Testing times: Students take the boards. Telegraph picture

Patna, Feb. 21: Around nine lakh students will take the Class X board examinations of the Bihar School Examination Board, said A.K.P Yadav, the chairman of the board, today.

The examinations are slated to start on February 22 and will continue till March 1. This year, the examination will be held under the new pattern based on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) model.

“Examinations will be held under the new pattern this year. Students will be given 15 minutes extra for reading the questions and understanding them before they start writing,” said Yadav.

He also said around 9.31lakh students will take the examinations this year, of which 5.32 lakh will be boys and 3.99 lakh girls.

Yadav said the board has made preparations for conducting a free and fair examination and will deal strictly with students involved in examination malpractices. Apart from admit cards, the attendance register to be filled by students will also bear their photographs. To check malpractices in the examination, this year there will be multiple sets of questions papers. A large number of security personnel have been employed. All examination centres will be videotaped and examinees found indulging in malpractices would be dealt with according to the provisions of Bihar School Examination Board Act, 1981.

Largest numbers of examinees (57,714) are from Chhapra. Patna is second with 54,316 examinees and Sheohar is last with only 3,015.

The board has also set up a round-the-clock control room, from where the student can get any information they need. The phone number of the control room is 0612-222132.