CUTTACK: In a bid to make foolproof arrangements for the ensuing board exams, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) is set to use global a positioning system (GPS) to track vehicles carrying squads and confidential material including question papers for the high school certificate (HSC) examinations, scheduled to be conducted from February 20 to March 4.
“The GPS trackers will keep a tab on vehicles carrying confidential material including question papers and also on the movement of squads deputed to different examination centres. Though adoption of the system is an expensive affair, it will ensure more transparency and help in checking question paper leak,” said BSE president Srikant Tarai.
An outsourcing agency will be assigned to fit GPS devices on the vehicles through tender. A special software will be used by the BSE to track the vehicles. Staff performing squad duty will have to download the application following which they will be automatically connected with BSE’s GPS tracker. Details on the movement of squads including their time of arrival and stay at the examination centres will be monitored, Tarai added.
Like squads, vehicles carrying confidential material including question papers will be put under GPS surveillance. It will help authorities know the time of dispatch of the vehicles from BSE office, time of arrival at the nodal centres and handing over of the confidential material to authorities concerned.
While 5,51,611 students have filled up forms for appearing the annual HSC examination in 2,991 examination centres, as many as 3,037 are set to appear the Madhyama examinations at 107 examination centres set up across the state. Similarly, 7,831 candidates have filled up forms for appearing in the SOSC examination in 55 examination centres. The Board has set up 313 nodal centres for safe storage of confidential material.