According to the Board of Secondary Education, Bhubaneswar, the Class X Board Exams, scheduled to be commenced from February 22, 2019, will not be affected by Odisha Bandh implemented by Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) on Thursday. It has been reported that over 5,87,720 students will be appearing for the examination at 2953 centers across the state.
Strict measures have also been taken to avoid malpractices during the examination which include CCTV’s being installed in 404 sensitive centers.
“The question papers for the examination center have already been dispatched to nodal centers, so the bandh will not have much effect on the conduct of exam. However, we request the organizations who have called the bandh to withdraw the bandh call as it may affect students who would go to examination centers one day ahead,” said school and mass education secretary P K Mohapatra.
Due to the Board Examinations, scheduled to be conducted in the state, the government insisted the NKS, to cancel the Odisha Bandh movement, failure of which will lead the government to take action against protesters.
It has been reported that the question papers of all subjects will be dispatched to the exam centers from 304 nodal centers on the exam day in over 700 vehicles along with tight security and are scheduled to reach the centers at 6 to 8:30 a.m.
Mohapatra also warned ‘unscrupulous’ people to not indulge in any uneven practices. “Don’t aspire to help students through unfair means as it has been decided to strictly implement the Examination Conduct Act to check malpractice. There will be zero tolerance in any kind of cheating or unfair means and legal action will be taken against those who engage or help in malpractice,” he added.
In order to implement tight security, the board has also employed 58 flying squads, 44 special squads, and 6 zonal squads, additionally, the government has employed special task force to keep an eye on the leak of question paper on social media.
“No one can carry mobile phones into the examination center to ensure that question papers cannot be leaked through social media,” said the president of the board Jahan Ara Begum.
She further added “All preparations are over for the board exams and we are very hopeful that students will appear the exam with full confidence on Friday. A 17 point standard protocol has been sent to all center superintendents who have also been trained for smooth conduct of the exam.”
The Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked all district collectors and SPs to keep a tight check over the security measures employed.
It has been observed that from this year four sets of objective type questions have been introduced and for getting passed, the minimum score is at least 15 marks in each objective and subjective papers.