Bhubaneswar: Preparations are on in full swing for the matriculation examination that begins from February 23.
A three-tier security system will be put in place to keep an eye on the examination centres under the aegis of district collectors and SPs - the first one has been formed at district education officers-level, second one at the board-level and third one formed by the officers of the school and mass education department.
"Ahead of the examination security has been beefed up. At the block and district levels, special teams comprising flying squads would be formed," said president of board of secondary education Jahan Ara Begum.
Begam further said that cases of malpractice would be taken seriously. Disciplinary action will be initiated against invigilators and centre superintendents if the students at their respective centres are found cheating, she said.
At least, 1176 students were booked for malpractices last year. In 2012, more than 10,000 students were booked for cheating by the matriculation board's special squad. In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, the number of students booked for cheating was 8490, 3327, 1956 and 1449, respectively.
Besides, district administration officials have been instructed to conduct surprise visits at exam centres.
Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi also held a discussion with collectors and SPs of all districts through videoconferencing recently for the smooth functioning of the examination.
The matriculation examination will be hosted at 2,818 examination centres while a total of 302 nodal centres have been identified for the safe storage of question papers. Altogether 5,90,330 students will appear in the examination.
The question papers as well as other confidential materials have been kept at such nodal centres.
They will be despatched to concerned centres a day before the examination.
Recently, the state government brought about reforms in the way the matriculation examination was conducted. From this examination session, students will no more take the exam in their respective schools. Instead, they will be allotted another centre within a distance of 5km of their schools.
