Cuttack, Feb 17: The Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, is fully prepared to conduct the annual Matric examinations from February 19 to March 2. Alongside the Matric exams, the State Open School Certificate (SOSC) and Madhyama examinations will also be conducted during the same period.
This year, a total of 3,082 examination centres, including nodal centres where question papers are stored, will be under CCTV surveillance. All centres have been equipped with cameras, enabling real-time monitoring of the examination process. A dedicated command control room has been set up at the board headquarters to oversee operations.
The control room has already begun functioning on a trial basis. Board officials have reviewed live feeds from several nodal centres and remote district examination venues to assess preparedness. Authorities stated that the control room will play a key role in monitoring and managing the examination process.
To prevent malpractice, the board has formed 37 special squads comprising college lecturers, education department officials, headmasters, and senior teachers. The roles and responsibilities of these squads were discussed during a review meeting chaired by BSE President Srikant Tarai.
The board has warned that centre superintendents and invigilators will be held accountable if any malpractice is detected during the exams. Squad members have been instructed to immediately inform the board’s control room in case of suspected irregularities.
At the district level, an additional 72 squads have been formed under the supervision of District Education Officers (DEOs). While live monitoring was implemented in around 1,000 centres last year, this time the system has been expanded to cover all examination centres. Additional technical staff have been deployed in the control room to handle the increased monitoring load.
Officials said the new surveillance system will allow authorities to track the conduct of examinations across all centres directly from the board office. According to board data, as many as 5,46,582 students have registered for the Matric exams this year. Additionally, 12,414 candidates will appear for the SOSC exams and 2,748 for the Madhyama examinations.
