The office of the Board of Secondary Education

Cuttack, Dec. 25: The Board of Secondary Education, Odisha has decided to start online registration for Class IX students, who would take the annual matriculation examination in 2016.

The online registration is expected to resolve problems such as errors in admit cards and printing of mark sheets and certificates of the students, a board official said.

At present, the students of Class IX have to manually register for the matriculation examination by filling up forms and later a consolidated report is sent to the zonal office.

The online registrations will also keep a check on fake schools and students, as a clear database will be available online.

Official sources said adequate steps were being taken for smooth conduct of the upcoming matriculation examination that will start from February 23 next year. Around six lakh students are supposed to take the examination that will conclude on March 9, 2015.

The board has decided to come up with slight changes in the examination schedule by holding the mathematics examination on the last day. Earlier, the test was held after the first and third language exams.

“We have kept the math exam on the last day, so that students can get ample time prepare for it,” said board president D.P. Nanda.

Nanda said that from the next year, the students, who had failed to clear the matriculation examination this year, would be able to appear for the matriculation as ex-regular candidates. Those students will be considered as old ex-regular candidates and a different schedule has been prepared for them. The examination for the old ex-regular students will be held from February 25 to March 12.

The board official said 15 minutes extra would be provided to the students during the mathematics examination, while one observer would be appointed at each centre for smooth conduct of the examination.

The observer will be instructed to ensure that the centre superintendents seal the Optical Mark Recognition sheets in their presence. The move is aimed to ensure transparency.

Next year, around 3,000 examination centres would come up for the matriculation examination against 2,500 centres in 2014.

In a bid to avoid technical errors, the board has instructed all school headmasters to check the name of students, their date of birth and the third language that he or she has selected. A prelist will be sent to respective schools, so that the errors can be rectified before issuance of admit cards and other necessary documents to the students.