UP Board: Top priority to the security of question papers at examination centers

PRAYAGRAJ

This year Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education board is giving top priority to the security of question papers at the examination centers, so that the examination can be conducted in a transparent and fair manner.The board examination for class 10th and 12th will be conducted in 12 working days, commencing from February 22 and will conclude on March 9 .

More than 2.90 lakh CCTV cameras with voice recorders have been installed in about 1.35 lakh examination rooms and premises of 8265 examination centers and live webcasting is being done for continuously monitoring the examinations by the district and state level control room.

The UP board Secretary Divyakant Shukla, while talking to media persons here on Tuesday informed that this year 8265 examination centers have been formed which are spread across 566 government schools  along with 3479 aided schools and 4220 unaided schools of the state.

In High School (Class 10)  in all 29,47,311 students have been registered out of which 15,71,184 are boys and 13,76,127 are girl students. Similarly in Intermediate (Class 12) board examination in all  25,77,997 students have registered out of which 14,28,323 are boys and 11,49,674 are girls.

Mr Shukla further said that in view of organizing a copy-free Board exam, for the first time a secure QR code and computerized identity card with number has been prepared for about 2.90 lakh invigilators. Apart from this, printing of protective QR code, serial number, logo etc. on answer sheets has been made to prevent exchanging of answer sheets.

For the first time the center administrator, external center administrator and static magistrate have been made jointly responsible for opening the envelopes of question papers. Likewise, toll free numbers 18001805310 and 18001805312, information mediums like Whats App, X (former twitter) and Facebook have been arranged for registering complaint about cheating etc. in the examinations.

1297 sector magistrates, 430 zonal magistrates, 75 state level observers and 416 mobile teams were deployed to inspect the examination centers.

Strict vigil will be kept on the incorrect news spread on social media by a  dedicated team of experts who will be keeping a close watch on all the social media platforms and keep a vigil on every post or information that are being shared on the Whats App or other social media platforms.If found fake or incorrect, the board will take necessary legal action against guilty persons.

He further warned that if any question paper of that subject or any part of it or its solution is transmitted through Whats App and social media or any other means or efforts are made for the same, suitable action will be taken as this is a punishable, cognizable and non-bailable offense under Section 4/10 of the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act-1998

The Secretary UP board added that 16 districts of the state including Mathura, Baghpat, Aligarh, Mainpuri, Etah, Hardoi, Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Chandauli, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Deoria, Gonda have been identified as hypersensitive districts. Around 50 computers and double the number of staff members are watching the live streaming of the strong rooms where the question papers are kept, he added.