Instruction being displayed at Capital Boys High School in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 15: Students taking their annual high school certificate examination (HSC) conducted by the Orissa Board of Secondary Education (BSE) tomorrow should practice extreme caution.

Students will find flexes and boards at the examination centres, displaying in detail, the penalties for those indulging in malpractice.

This time around, the centres have been instructed to prominently display information about the penalty of malpractice for the students to view. “These display boards or flexes will have details of the punishment and fine for students found using unfair means during the exams,” Bandana Mohapatra, headmistress, Capital High School said.

Those caught using unfair means may be imprisoned for up to a maximum of three months with penalty ranging between Rs 500 to Rs 3,000 as per the Orissa Conduct of Examination Act. The offenses are cognizable and non-bailable. Similarly, internal squads at the centres have been imparted training on how to carry on better invigilation and checking to curb cases of malpractice.

“Mobiles and calculators are strictly forbidden for teachers also,” said a centre head. Exams will begin at 7am everyday and students will be distributed the question papers 10 minutes before the examination start. As many as 4,85,530 candidates will appear for the examinations tomorrow at 2,261 centres. These include 4,20,687 regular candidates and 281 ex-regular candidates. Also, there are 14,212 regular correspondence candidates and 2,189 ex-regular correspondence candidates.

The examinations will continue till April 4.

“To keep a tight lease on examinees, the BSE has pressed into service about 90 centre inspector squads and 30 special squads to supervise the examinations and report any discrepancies,” said BSE president Satyakam Mishra.

There are 19 circles and each circle inspector has nearly 70 flying squads under their disposal for supervision.

There are eight centres for Bhubaneswar and 20 centres for Cuttack. At least 13,000 students will appear for HSC exam in the twin cities “The number of students appearing for the exam this year is up by 13.3 per cent,” Mishra said.

In 2009 4,20,530 students had appeared for the examinations while in 2009 the number was 4,2563. Similarly, as many as 3, 83,590 students had appeared for the exams in 2008.