Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: The state government has failed to take a decision regarding holding examinations for first-year Plus Two students.

Senior officials of the school and mass education department said information is awaited on the matter for a decision.

"We could not reach a conclusion as we needed more information. The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has been asked to provide the information. Another meeting will be convened shortly," said higher education secretary Ranjana Chopra.

"All the necessary documents were provided to the department, but some information is needed which would be provided shortly," said the chairman of the council, Basudev Chhatoi.

The council had asked the state government to introduce examinations for the first year of Plus II by amending the Odisha Higher Secondary Act, 1982.

Earlier this month, the council authorities had asked first-year students in junior colleges to be prepared for the newly introduced first-year examination. They had also said the examination forms could be expected by October.

Till now, in the first-two years of Plus II, exams were only conducted in the second year. However, the state government is in the process of amending the Orissa Higher Secondary Act 1982, which has the provision for a single examination.

"Certain amendments are needed for the introduction of the first-year examination," said Chattoi.

According to sources, the first-year examination will be conducted according to the CBSE pattern. There will be 50 objective type questions carrying one mark each. The students will get optical mark reading (OMR) answer sheets.

Educationists have criticised the absence of an examination in the first year. Without an evaluation process, students did not take their studies seriously and treated the first-year syllabus as insignificant, they said.

This ultimately led to students from the state putting up a poor show in national-level entrance exams.