The state higher secondary council, which will conduct the first third-semester examinations from September 8 under the new semesterised system, will not allow candidates to carry even scientific calculators into the exam venues, in a bid to curb any possibility of using fraudulent methods to answer MCQs.

The third-semester examinations will be the first of the two semester examinations that a Class XII student will write under the system introduced in 2024.

The council this year will have two sets of questions in some of the 66 subjects on which the board examinations will be held, as part of a security feature.

The council on Tuesday announced a slew of security measures to ensure free and fair exams.

Council President Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya told a news conference that in competitive examinations like JEE and NEET, the candidates are not allowed to enter the venue with scientific calculators.

“The council has also decided to introduce the practice. Even the CBSE board does not allow the use of scientific calculators,” 160e said.

“We have set questions in such a way that students don’t require any major computation that would necessitate the use of a scientific calculator.”

Students will not be allowed to enter examination centres with any electronic gadgets or chits.

Moreover, the entire examination of a candidate will be cancelled if he or she “misbehaves with a centre-in-charge or an invigilator”.

In March, 11 higher secondary examinees allegedly assaulted some on-duty teachers at an exam venue in Malda.

The council chief said: “We will have two sets of MCQs in some of the subjects, as part of the security features.

However, he declined to elaborate on what prompted the council to have two sets of questions.

Around 6.6 lakh candidates will write the tests, to continue till September 22.

The one-hour-15-minute examinations will start from 10am.

Lab-based subjects will have 35 MCQs while non-lab ones will have 40 questions.

The questions will be written on OMR sheets that will be evaluated by computers, rendering the role of examiners and scrutineers redundant, said a council official.

“All the candidates in the 2,106 examination venues will be frisked with hand-held metal detectors that will be done in the presence of police. All the examination venues will be under CCTV surveillance. The number of invigilators has been increased because the tests will be held on MCQs,” the president said.

The candidates of the last state higher secondary examinations under the annual system allegedly attacked teachers while they were being frisked before they entered the exam hall.

At least 12 teachers of Chamagram High School in Malda district, were allegedly assaulted on a day the president of the higher secondary council was visiting schools in the district to see how the exams were being conducted.

During the examination, the candidates will not be allowed to come out of the venue, other than for medical purposes, said Priyadarshini Mallick, the council secretary.

“Such practices are followed in competitive examinations,” said the president.

The fourth-semester examinations of Class XII students will be held in March.

Grade cards will be issued by combining the results of the third and fourth semesters.