The Bihar School Examination Board on Tuesday said students who had failed in two subjects in the Intermediate exam will be allowed to appear for compartmental test.

Last year, only students who had failed in one subject were allowed to appear for the compartmental test.

The compartmental test will be held from July 3 to 13 and students can sign up for the test from June 8 to 14. Board chairman Anand Kishor said the decision has been taken "as a large number of students have failed in the Intermediate examination this year".

The board will scrutinise - re-total the marks of - Intermediate answer sheets from June 9 to 30. Answer sheets of students who have appeared in competitive examinations - such as for the IITs - will be scrutinised first.

The board has also decided to reduce the scrutiny fees from Rs 120 to Rs 70. The online application for scrutiny of copies will be accepted till June 15.

The decisions came after a flurry of meetings in the aftermath of the Intermediate result shock in which just about 35 per cent students passed.

Education department officials held two meetings with board officials and state education minister Ashok Choudhary also held a series of meetings with department officials.

Even chief minister Nitish Kumar had asked the board and the education department to look into the grievances of students.

The decisions announced on Tuesday are, however, unlikely to quell the burgeoning protests over the results, because the students have said they want their answer sheets re-evaluated and not merely scrutinised.

The board on Tuesday also decided to constitute a three-member committee headed by retired IAS officer Sudhir Kumar to streamline the functioning of practical examinations that are held at schools. The committee will look into the infrastructure of the schools assigned as home centres (for practical exams). The other members of the committee are BSEB secretary Anup Kumar and Akhileshwar Pandya, director (academic) at the board.

Board chairman Kishor denied allegations that board data had been hacked.

After the Intermediate results were declared, there were reports some students received anonymous telling them in which subjects they had failed and seeking money to fix the marks. There have also been reports that the callers' result predictions had come true.

"The board has taken the issue seriously and FIRs have been lodged at Saran, Sheikhpura, Sheohar, Madhubani and Darbhanga districts," Kishor said on Tuesday.

Board sources revealed that as this time students were asked to apply for the Intermediate exams online, many schools that do not have computers had en-masse submitted the online applications from cyber cafés or computer training institutes, and that is how unscrupulous elements may have got access to students' phone numbers.

The board has also decided to make online all its data from 1985 to 2004. At present it has online information of students from 2005 to 2016.

The decision, sources said, is a fallout of the arrest of arts topper Ganesh Kumar on charges of age fraud.