The state secondary education board has appealed for uninterrupted power supply and special buses for Madhyamik 2010, which starts on Tuesday and will continue till March 8, while also modifying rules to minimise security hazards.

The board authorities have decided to restrict the entry of outsiders at the examination centres.

“Even teachers of one school will not be allowed to visit another institution where their students are writing the test. Parents will not be allowed at the centres after 11.15am,” said an official.

Police and the district administration have been asked to ensure that there is no law-and-order problem while the exam is on for two weeks.

“The cops should also see to it that the roads remain snarl-free on the exam days,” said an official.

Last year, there were complaints of frequent power cuts at several examination venues.

“We have requested the power department to ensure uninterrupted supply during the examination. We have also urged the transport department to ply special buses for the examinees,” said board president Mamata Ray.

A power department official said preparations had been made to ensure continuous supply during the exam season this year. “The power situation this year should be much better as we have improved the supply mechanism and also arranged for extra sources of generation.”

A transport department official said that like previous years, this year, too, special buses would be deployed to help Madhyamik examinees and their parents reach the test venues smoothly.

As many as the 9,47,495 examinees will write the test at 1,189 venues across the state. The exams will begin at 11.45am and continue till 3pm. Blind students are entitled to a 30-minute grace period.

Tuesday’s test is of the first language paper I.

Question papers will be distributed at 11.45am but the students will not be allowed to write till noon. “The first 15 minutes are only for reading the questions,” said an official.

This is also the first time students from Hindi-medium schools will get the question papers, except history, in Hindi.

Till last year, they would get question papers printed in English. “Because of some problems we could not print the history paper in Hindi,” said a board official.