Odisha secondary board gears up for reforms, to scrap OMR sheets in matric from 2020

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to set new standards and improve the quality of education, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) in Odisha has decided to introduce a number of new reforms in the matriculation examination from 2020.

The board will do away with the OMR sheets from next year and several concrete measures will be undertaken to put a check on malpractice, which will include installation of CCTV cameras in all centres.

School and Mass Education Secretary, Pradipta Mohapatra informed that stern action will be taken against the teachers who are found guilty of lapses during the conduct of the examination. Already, action has been taken against 17 teachers this year for allegedly helping students in malpractice and making question papers viral on social media. Moreover, the School and Mass Education department has issued show-cause notices to teachers of 82 schools with ‘zero result’ this year.

“We are trying to come up with strict measures to put a check on malpractices during matriculation examination. From next year, there will be a secret code in question papers to put a check on incidents of question papers going viral on social media,” said Mohapatra.

Meanwhile, concerns are now being expressed over dip in overall pass percentage in matriculation examination. This year too, the pass percentage has dipped by 6 percent. Though School and Mass Education department attributes the drop to stricter exam norms, educationists believe that the government should introspect before taking action against teachers.