File picture of students appearing for matriculation examination in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: The Council of Higher Secondary Education has said it will not evaluate answer sheets of colleges that would fail to provide video footage of the examinations.

Council chairman Basudev Chhatoi said that despite several reminders, some private colleges were hesitant to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

At least 229 private colleges have been reminded to install CCTV cameras and record the proceedings.

“Council officials are receiving regular updates about the status of CCTV camera installation in the colleges and about 90 per cent of the colleges have complied with the directive,” he said, adding that video footage from the camera would be evaluated at the time of grading the practical answer papers.

This decision is part of the examination reforms implemented by the department of higher education in the aftermath of the question paper leak incident last year.

The council has formed a three-tier squad to check malpractice during exams. The authorities had received much flak last year after the leakage of Plus Two question papers in some private colleges of the state.

Over 3.24 lakh students are appearing for the annual examination in science, commerce, arts and vocational streams through both regular and distance mode in over 1,300 examination centres.

The results will be published before the end of June. Chattoi said the colleges had been provided a list of external examiners they can assign for conducting examinations.

If any college wants to change the external examiner, it has to get prior approval of CHSE chairman.

This time, adequate security arrangements have been made at the strong rooms where question papers will be stored.

Last week, development commissioner Injeti Srinivas held discussions with the district collectors and superintendents of police of all the 30 districts via videoconferencing over smooth management of Plus Two examinations in the state.

The district administrations and police have been asked to take steps to ensure question papers are kept under tight security. For smooth management and security of question papers, the government has set up 205 examination management hubs, which have been put under CCTV surveillance.

Question papers would be dispatched to the examination centres on the day of the exams.