CUTTACK: With the annual High School Certificate (HSC), Madhyama and State Open School Certificate (SOSC) examinations beginning simultaneously from Thursday, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) has announced that students writing the tests will be allowed an additional 15 minutes time to enter the examination centres in case of emergencies.
While the exams will begin at 9 am, the entry time has been extended up to 9.30 am from the earlier deadline of 9.15 am. The exams are slated to continue till March 2.
BSE president Srikant Tarai said the examinees will be allowed a 15-minute grace period for entry in case they face delay in reaching the exam centre due to some problem or emergencies. “However, no additional time will be allowed to the students to write the exam which is scheduled to be held in a single sitting from 9 am to 11.30 am,” he clarified.
Tarai, however, informed that differently-abled students will be given an additional 50 minutes to complete their papers. “The examination centres will provide scribes for these students and they can also bring a scribe of their choice, provided they are from a lower class than Class X,” he said. Sources in the Board said a total of 5,61,997 students have filled up forms for appearing the examination at 3,082 examination centres across the state. While the Board has made special arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of the examinations, strict measures have been put in place to curb cheating and adoption of any unfair means during the examination.
As many as 322 nodal centres have been set up across the state to facilitate transportation of the question papers and other confidential documents to the examination centres. Tarai said the question papers and other confidential documents have already been sent to the nodal centres.
“The materials will be transported to the exam centres before commencement of the exam. To curb malpractice and ensure free, fair and transparent examination, the movement and activities of the examinees, invigilators and staff deployed for conduct of the test will be live-streamed through the command control room set up at the Board head office,” said the BSE president.
While the board has formed 37 squads, as many as 72 flying squads have been constituted by the district administration and district education officer (DEO) to keep a tab on the examinations, he informed.