Plus two exams to begin today in Odisha amid heightened surveillance
BHUBANESWAR: With annual Higher Secondary (Plus II) examination beginning on Friday, the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has asked students to arrive at examination centres at 9.30 am. The examination will begin at 10 am.
A total of 3,84,597 students (3,59,039 regular and 25,558 ex-regular) across Arts, Science, Commerce and Vocational Education will appear the examination this year. Around 2.21 lakh regular students in Arts, 1.08 lakh in Science, 24,157 in Commerce and 4,978 in Vocational Steam will write their papers. For the Vocational Education stream, the test will begin with English paper on February 19.
In an advisory issued to examinees on Thursday, the council reminded them that only admit cards and black ballpoint pens will be allowed inside examination centres. Students will get the question papers five minutes in advance and they have been asked to report any errors in page number or printing and serial number and page number of the answer sheet to the officials present in the centres immediately. Students will not be provided any additional answer sheets. The examination will be held in only one shift from 10 am to 1 pm under CCTV surveillance.
The examination of Science stream will kick off with Odia paper on February 16 and those of Arts and Commerce streams from February 17. As far as security is concerned, examination controller of CHSE Ashok Nayak said the 202 exam management hubs (where question papers are stored) and almost all the examination centres have been brought under CCTV surveillance. There are 1,160 exam centres this year.
“The first phase question papers (for the 10 days of exams) have been sent to all the 202 examination management hubs (EMHs) and all the centres have been readied,” he said. On a trial basis, this year the tests at 15 to 20 exam centres will be streamed online at the CHSE office for better monitoring.
Apart from squads at each of the examination centres, the School and Mass Education department has formed squads at district, zonal and CHSE levels to check malpractice and ensure the examinations are held without any hiccups. For security purposes, the state has been divided into three zones - southern (Berhampur), northern (Baripada) and western (Sambalpur).
“This year, we have decided to deploy permanent squads during the entire period of higher secondary examinations in Angul, Keonjhar and Koraput districts. Whenever required, the squads can immediately reach the exam centres in these districts. This step has been taken to facilitate quick movement of squads to the centres that are in inaccessible pockets within the districts,” Nayak informed. The examination will conclude on March 20 and the results are likely to be announced around the first week of May.