Guwahati, Feb. 19: Over 500 underage students, including a nine-year-old boy, allegedly appeared for the matric examination that got under way across Assam today.

The Board of Secondary Education, Assam (Seba), which conducts the exams, however, made it clear that the results of these underage examinees (according to records available with the board) would be withheld unless they produce documents to prove they would be 15 years old on March 1, 2015.

According to Seba rules, the minimum age of an examinee should be 15 'running' to appear in the matric exams.

Over four lakh students appeared in the matric exams at 940 examination centres across the state today.

Seba secretary Abir Hazarika told The Telegraph that the respective schools were responsible for sending application forms of such underage students to the board. Most of the underage examinees were aged between 13 and 14 years.

'The board could detect the underage examinees when they checked the date of birth in the applications forms. We asked the schools whether they had committed any mistake. The schools were told to rectify the mistakes. While some schools did the correction, many failed to do so within the stipulated deadline. Since the number of such examinees was huge, we did not want to disqualify them from appearing in the exams and issued them provisional admit cards. Students were strictly asked to produce documents to prove they would complete 15 by March 1 this year. If they fail do so, they would not be entitled to get their results, marksheets, certificates and will again have to appear in the matric when they turn 15,' Hazarika said.

Among the underage examinees, Shamim Mehfiz, who is only nine, hogged the limelight in central Assam's Darrang district. Shamim, who appeared for the exam from Bechimari centre, said he was confident of doing well.

Sources in Seba said many parents and teachers put pressure on students to pass the matric at an early stage for the sake of future academic advancement.

Some parents and teachers might do so to create some sort of record as in the case of Shamim, a source said.

'Many such underage examinees resort to unfair means to pass the exams so they can apply for some jobs which require 'matriculate qualification' earlier than usual. The unemployment problem in the state could be attributed to such a trend,' a retired Seba official said.

Hazarika said barring the tragic death of an examinee in Dhemaji district, there was no untoward incident during the exam.

Though Seba's move to introduce bar-coded answer scripts in the matric examination had caused confusion and fear among a section of examinees and their parents last week, examiners at different centres were seen making the students understand the new system.

Seba has claimed there was no confusion today and the examinees appeared in the exams without any fear and apprehension.

Around 15 minutes extra time was provided to examinees to check the details and familiarise themselves with the new set-up.

Under the barcode system, each answer script came with a detachable optical-mark reader (OMR) in the form of machine-readable identity sheets with names and other personal details of examinees.

The identity sheets will be separated from the answer scripts before they are sent for evaluation so that the examiners have no idea who the examinees are. The OMR sheets were separated from the answer scripts at the examination venues.