The Uttar Pradesh Board examinations commenced today at 8.30am. This year, a total of 55.2 lakh students are appearing in the examination. Elaborate security measures have been made, with approximately 2.90 lakh CCTV cameras installed across around 1.35 lakh examination rooms to ensure a free and fair examination.
The first session commenced at 8.30am, while the second session will take place from 2pm to 5.15pm. Of the total 55.2 lakh candidates, 29.5 lakh are registered for Class 10, and 25.7 lakh have enrolled for Class 12. On Thursday, Class 10 students are set to undertake examinations for Hindi and Commerce subjects. Simultaneously, Class 12 students are taking military sciences and Hindi papers during the morning and evening shifts, respectively.
"Digital voice recorders, router devices, and high-speed internet connections are in place," a board official said. A total of 2.75 lakh invigilators are deployed.
Additionally, the monitoring of sensitive and highly sensitive examination centres involves the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police and the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU). In a precautionary measure similar to the previous year, all numbered and four-colour printed answer sheets now feature QR codes and the Board's logo. Notably, the board logo is now positioned on the inside pages of the answer sheets, preventing any attempts to replace them with pre-written pages from older answer sheets, according to officials.
The UP Board has identified a total of 776 examination centres for Class 10 and Class 12 exams as sensitive, with an additional 275 centres categorised as highly sensitive. Furthermore, 16 districts in the state have been designated as highly sensitive by the UP Board. These districts, including Mathura, Baghpat, Aligarh, Mainpuri, Etah, Hardoi, Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Chandauli, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Deoria, and Gonda, were specified by UP Board secretary Dibyakant Shukla. Additionally, 257 jail inmates from various prisons in the state are set to participate in the exams, with 139 appearing in the Class 12 exams and 118 taking the Class 10 exams.
At a press briefing held on Wednesday, additional chief secretary of secondary education, Deepak Kumar, announced that this year, a total of 55,25,308 examinees have registered for the UP Board examinations. Among them, there are 29,47,311 high school students, comprising 15,71,184 boys and 13,76,127 girls, and 25,77,997 intermediate students, with 14,28,323 boys and 11,49,674 girls. The exams are being held at 8,265 centres in all 75 districts of the state.
