Record 13.13 lakh pupils to appear for 2008 Board examinations

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) A record of more than 13.13 lakh students, including 5.45 lakh girls, will appear for the 2008 CBSE examinations, which will commence from March 1, this year, marking an increase of more than 8 per cent.

''We have a new high this year... more than 7.65 lakh students will write the class X examination and more than 5.48 lakh, the XII standard examination,'' CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly told a news conference.

From the Delhi region, a total 3.8 lakh candidates will appear for the boards. While for class X the number has increased by 5.68 per cent with 2.19 lakh pupils.

An upward trend has also been registered class XII by 2.6 per cent with more than 1.60 lakh students.

In the special category, which includes blind, dyslexics and handicapped, a total of 2,478 students will appear in class X and XII examinations compared to last year's 2,132.

However, Delhi has witnessed a marginal reverse trend this year in this category with 1,105 candidates registering for the examinations against 1,127, in 2007. As many as six centres for class X and nine for class XII blind candidates will be set up with specially trained examiners.

The examinations will be conducted across 5,018 centres of which 375 have been marked as sensitive and will have additional security measures. The national capital alone will have 1,109 centres.

In foreign countries including the Gulf, as many as 158 centres will be set up where 36,027 will write the examinations.

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