UP Board exam from Mar 24: Control room to monitor feed from exam centres

Lucknow, Mar 23: In a step to prevent examination malpractice, a control room will monitor footage from CCTV cameras installed at centres across the state during the UP school board exams which begins on March 24, officials said.

The state-level control room was inaugurated UP Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra at the Secondary Education Directorate on Wednesday and the exam centres will be monitored closely with help of staff. As per the officials, a total of 2,97,124 CCTV cameras have been installed. The feed from these cameras will be monitored at various command centres, including the state level and 75 district level centres, they added.

"The control room will receive direct feed from the CCTV cameras installed at the exam centres and strong rooms across the state which will be monitored closely by a team under direct supervision of senior officials. "The control room will be an essential tool in ensuring free and fair board exams," the Chief Secretary said.

Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Sikhsa Parishad-conducted exams for classes 10 and 12 will be held in two shifts - one the morning shift will be held between 8 am and 11:15 and the other in the noon shift which will be held from 2 pm to 5:15 pm.

The state government has earlier warned that the stringent National Security Act (NSA) will be slapped against those found using unfair means during the exams.

A total of 27,81,654 students have registered for Class 10 exams this year, of which 12,28,456 are female students and 15,53,198 are boys. Similarly, a total of 24,11,035 students have registered for Class 12 this year, of which 10,86,835 are female and 13,24,200 are male students.

In all, 51,92,689 students have registered for the UP board exams. A total of 8,373 exam centres have been made across the state for the exam. Of these 6,398 centres are in rural areas and 1,975 are located in the urban areas. The state government has declared 861 exam centres 'sensitive' and 254 as 'very sensitive', while 7,258 as have been declared as general. PTI