Cuttack/ Bhubaneswar, March 2 : The fate of nearly 20 students of St Francis Xavier High School in Baripada hangs in balance. They could not appear for their CBSE Class X examination here today.

The students had enrolled themselves at the school after the authorities convinced them that the institution was affiliated to the CBSE. The students were told their examination centre was at a school in Chauliaganj.

"We had arrived in Cuttack yesterday to appear for the board examinations. But today, we were shocked to find that we had not been enrolled for the board exam," said Jyoti Prakash, a student.

The students alleged that despite repeated demands, the school authorities did not provide them admit cards.

"We were told by the school authorities that the examination centre of the students would either be at the St Xavier School or Kendriya Vidyalaya in Cuttack. That is why we had come along with our children today," said Kishore Das, a guardian.

The students and their guardians staged a demonstration near Chauliaganj police station in connection with the serious lapse by the school authorities.

"We had earlier paid nearly Rs 2.5 lakh to one of the directors of St Xaviers School in Cuttack to enrol our students. But it seems we have been cheated," said Sanjay Sen, the principal of the St Francis Xavier High School, Baripada.

Plus Two exam

The annual Plus Two examinations conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) commenced today amid stray incidents of violence.

A college in Kalahandi district was ransacked after students were deprived of taking the exams.

Agitated students and their guardians tried to set ablaze the Panchayat Junior College at Narla Road in Kalahandi after nearly 172 students were deprived from appearing in the Plus Two first-year examinations. The college was allegedly running without proper documentation and the authorities allegedly fled from the spot after the incident.

The CHSE has set up 203 examination management hubs for storage of question papers. These hubs have been kept under the surveillance and 24-hour police protection.

As many as 2,45,501 students in arts, 85,236 in science and 32,193 students in commerce are appearing for the exams. Also 10,107 students are appearing in the vocational stream.