Bhubaneswar, Feb. 24: Six private agencies are vying for the agency for e-evaluation of Plus Two science papers.

'Six private agencies have taken part in the bidding process, and the department will finalise the agency by today or tomorrow,' said Basudev Chattoi, chairman of the Council of Higher Secondary Education.

The higher education department is yet to finalise the agency for e-evaluation of Plus Two science papers. The practical examinations are over, while the theory tests for science, arts and commerce would start from March 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

As many as 94,952 science students will take the tests, for which 3,600 teachers are being trained. The selected agency will implement the e-evaluation project, and it will be responsible for scanning and digitising the answer booklets and e-evaluation marking on the answer book images.

In another development, the council has decided to form a five-tier squad system to check malpractice during the exams. Besides, the council has introduced a squad that will make surprise raids on all exam centres to ensure that the tests are conducted fairly. Three teaching faculty of lecturer rank will form a squad, and each squad will cover a minimum of two colleges or more every day depending on the locations of the institutes.

Chattoi said 30 flying squads would be formed for each district, and a district-level consultant will manage each squad.

The state has been divided into central zone (Bhubaneswar), south zone (Berhampur), north zone (Baripada) and west zone (Sambalpur), and each zone will have a deputy secretary assigned by the council.

In another development, the higher education department has decided to rise the evaluators' fee from the existing Rs 10 to Rs 15 for each answer script. Last year, the amount was hiked from Rs 6 to Rs 10.

An official said the decision to hike the evaluation fee had been taken for the benefit of the evaluators, who are required to sit for at least six hours at a stretch to correct the papers. Each evaluator will correct 15 answer scripts to reduce the burden.

The department had earlier announced air-conditioning and generator facilities at all the 50 evaluation centres.

While it was earlier announced to conduct e-evaluation for all the four streams, it subsequently decided to hold the exams for the science stream alone. This year, as many as 3,71,920 students will take the Plus Two exams for all the four streams at 1,029 examination centres set up by the council.