Matric exam concludes, over 10,000 held for cheating in Odisha

It seems the efforts of the Board of Secondary Education to check malpractices in the matriculation exam have yielded results, with 10,015 students booked for cheating this year. This is the highest number of examinees ever caught for using unfair means in the matriculation examinations. The examinations got over on Thursday.

Last year, 7,000 students were booked for malpractices, while in 2010, the figure was 2,046. This year, around 6,372 examinees were booked for malpractice in regular stream and the rest were ex-regular examinees. Board officials said the maximum number of cheating cases was reported from Sambalpur central zone. Board officials have expressed concern over the rising number of malpractice cases.

"This year a record number of students have been booked. The figures themselves speak about the gravity of the problem, malpractice in matriculation exam has become a deep rooted problem," said Satyakam Mishra, president of the board. The students booked for malpractice will be debarred from appearing in matriculation exam for three years.

Apart from the students, the board has also decided to take stringent action against 14 invigilators and six centre superintendents who were found guilty of abetting malpractice.

"We have written to the state government to take stringent action against the invigilators and centre superintendents who were found abetting malpractice," said Nihar Mohapatra, board secretary.

Evaluation of answer sheets will begin from May 1 and will continue till May 15. Answer scripts will be corrected at 71 centres across the state and more than 21,000 teachers will be involved in the process.

The board has decided to transport the answer sheets directly to the evaluation centres from the examination centres to avoid wastage of time.

"Earlier answer sheets were collected at a receiving centre and from there they were sent to evaluation centres. In the process, seven days were lost, so this time we have decided to transport the answer sheets directly from the exam centre to evaluation point," said Mishra.

Board officials have informed that the results would be out by first week of July. This year atleast 5.11 lakh students appeared for the matriculation examination at 2,261 centres across the state. Over 122 flying squads were formed to keep vigil on these centres.

The matriculation examination had started on March 19, but on March 21, question papers of seven subjects were stolen from an exam centre, Bhagabati Vidyapitha, in Puri district following which the exam was stalled . The exam resumed on April 17 and concluded on Thursday.