Bhubaneswar, Oct. 16: The matric examination will begin from February 22 next year, president of Board of Secondary Education Dakhya Prasad Nanda announced today. The board is responsible for conducting the annual examination in the state.

The online registration of forms will start from October 28 and will continue till November 5. Both the regular and ex-regular candidates taking the high school certificate exam will be able to fill in the online forms. However, the form fill-up for the candidates enrolled in various correspondence courses run by the board will take place at the zonal offices during the same period.

This is the first time that the government has introduced the system to ensure a hassle-free form fill-up process.

"Schools across the state will remain closed for the Puja holidays. So we made the announcement today to alert the school authorities and the students," said Nanda.

The date will also help the students chalk out their study plans. "We want the students to start preparing from now on. It will help them secure better grades," Nanda said.

The state government had replaced marks with grades from the 2014 matric examination to reduce stress levels and unhealthy competition among students.

The schedule for papers will be announced after the festive season. Over six lakh students would take the matriculation examination in 2016.