The annual matric exam being conducted by Board of Secondary Education in Odisha started on February 20. To check malpractice and leakage of question papers, AI-powered CCTV cameras have been installed in and around 600 sensitive and hyper-sensitive examination and a few nodal centres.

According to sources, irregularities were reported from Cuttack, Kalahandi, Dhenkanal, Puri, and Nayagarh districts. Students were found talking and a woman cop was seen entering the examination room at AN High School at Narasinghpur in Cuttack district. The cameras detected an unauthorised person at the window of one of the examination rooms at Kanpur Girls’ High School, also in Cuttack. The students were also found talking while the exam was on at Chitrotpala Nodal High School at Janardanpur.

In Kalahandi’s Koksara, a woman teacher of Jawahar Uccha Bidyapitha was found talking on mobile phone at 9.17 am. Invigilators were found missing at Aurobinda Bidyamandir in Dhenkanal’s Meramandali at 10.04 am.

A delay in dispatching question papers was detected at Prachi Academy at Adaspur, Nodal High School in Puri’s Pipili and also at BC High School in Nayagarh’s Ranpur.

The Board has asked Director of Secondary Education-Odisha and Cuttack Superintendent of Police (SP) to take action against the erring officials and personnel, the sources added.

Notably, the BSE has set up a command control room at its head office to monitor movement and activities of examinees, invigilators and staff deployed for conduct of examination though CCTV cameras. Any irregularity or mismanagement is seen and tracked directly from the Board office.

Speaking to media persons, the minister said the government took the decision on the basis of suggestions made by the people to 5T chairman VK Pandian during his visit to different areas. The new colleges will start functioning from this academic year, he added.

Nayak said in order to solve the faculty crisis in the colleges, as many as 1,056 lecturers will be appointed through Staff Selection Board in next one week. While 467 lecturers were appointed in 2022-23 academic year, 1,033 appointments were made in 2023-24, he added.

Stating that there are 1,040 degree colleges in the state now against 548 in 2000, he said the number of universities has also increased from 5 to 24. The total universities include 17 government and 7 private. Besides, 21 fundamental research centres for excellence have been opened in the state.

For the benefits of the students, smart classrooms and laboratories have been opened in the colleges. The government has also made provision of e-scholarship, Byasakabi Fakir Mohan Bhasabruti, Gopabandhu Siksha Sahayata Yojana and Kalinga Siksha Sathi for them.

The minister said several schemes including Biju Yuva Empowerment Yojana, Green Passage Yojana, free civil service coaching have been introduced for the students.

While are busy making arrangements for the annual examination, thousands of secondary school teachers have been staging protest at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar for the last 11 days. No concrete step was stated to have been taken to resolve the issue, sources said.

Under the circumstances, apprehensions have been expressed by many over the conduct of the important exam.

It may be noted here that secondary school teachers have been staging protest against Odisha government’s alleged failure in meeting their 21-point charter of demands.

The teachers are agitating at Lower PMG in the city since February 7in response to the call of the Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA).

The teachers’ demands included grants to eligible schools, salary system for 226 and 399 school teachers, removal of anomalies in the grade pay of Rs 2800, extension of retirement age of teachers to 62 years and pension for retired teachers of unaided schools.

Meanwhile, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) it set to make use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor the conduct of the annual high school examinations this year.
As per reports, AI-powered cameras will be installed at strong rooms, DEO offices, and examination halls. In case any discrepancies are noticed, the operators at the command will be intimated about it.

As per the schedule, the examination will begin with the first language Odia paper on February 20 while the exam for the second language English will be held on February 23. The students will appear for Mathematics paper on February 26, Hindi/Sanskrit on February 28, Science on March 2, and social science on March 4.

The vocational practical examinations will be conducted in respective schools by OSEPA between January 15 and 31.

The HSC examinations will be held in 2,991 centres in Odisha while 5,51,611 students have registered to appear for the exams. As many as 7831 students will sit for the SOSC examination in 55 centres while 3037 students will appear for the Madhyma examinations at 107 centres.

According to officials, keeping in view the possible heat wave, there will be no second sitting in the examinations. The evaluation of question papers will start from March 15 and is likely to be completed in the subsequent 12 days.

ADVISORY

>> Reach exam centre half an hour before the commencement of the examination.

>> Items other than black ballpoint pens and admit cards will not allowed in the examination hall.

>> Enter the hall 15 minutes in advance, you will get the answer copy 10 minutes in advance.

>> You will get the question paper 5 minutes in advance.

>> Check the serial number and page number of the answer sheet well and inform immediately in case of an error.

>> If there is a page number or printing error in the question paper, then inform immediately.

>> Additional answer sheets will not be provided.

>> Students will be barred from writing exams if they put any mark or write anything on the question paper except for the roll number

>> Write your roll number, and registration number at the designated place in the answer sheet.

>> Write the set code of the question paper accurately.

>> Submit attendance by checking your roll number in the attendance sheet.

The exams, which will be held in one shift from 10 am to 1 pm under CCTV surveillance, is scheduled to conclude on March 20. The results are likely to be announced towards the first week of May.

A total of 3,84,597 students (3,59,039 regular and 25,558 ex-regular) from all streams including Arts, Science, Commerce and Vocational Education will appear in the exams this year, which is about 26,655 more than the previous year. A total of 2.21 lakh regular students in Arts, 1.08 lakh in Science, 24,157 in Commerce and 4,978 in Vocational Steam will write their papers.  The exams of the Science stream will kick off with the Odia paper on February 16.

Similarly, the exams of the Arts and Commerce streams will start with the same paper on February 17. Vocational Education exams, on the other hand, will start with English paper on February 19.

As per the draft guidelines, a College to which these Rules apply shall be declared to be fit to receive grants from the Central Government, the University Grants Commission (UGC), or any other Organization receiving funds from the Central Government, only if the UGC is satisfied that the college fulfils the following conditions.

The College has valid accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

OR

National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accreditation for at least 60% of the total eligible programes for accreditation for the Colleges offering more than three programmes. In case the number of programmes being offered is less than three, then each of the eligible programme must have been accredited.

OR

Ranked in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking in the respective category (thrice after participating 5 times/twice after participating thrice).

Application for recognition under clause 12B of the UGC Act, 1956

The College, fulfilling the eligibility criteria specified in these Rules may apply ‘online’ to the University Grants Commission for considering the application for its recognition under Section 12B of the UGC Act, 1956 along with the processing fee as decided by the University Grants Commission from time to time.

In a clarification on Thursday, the OSEPA said the recruitment of Junior Teachers (Schematic) has been conducted in a completely automated process based on the government resolution.

On the allegation of the aspirants that ineligible candidates were issued admit cards, the OSEPA said, “The admit cards are automatically generated on the basis of information submitted by the applicant. Examinations were conducted on the basis of admit cards issued after verification of photo and taking bio metric attendance. Therefore, admit card issued is neither an authenticated document nor was it an assurance of entry to the examination hall. OSEPA has verified the bio metric attendance of all candidates who had actually written the exam.”

The aspirants also pointed out discrepancy in the merit list stating that while 20,000 posts had been advertised in different categories, 18,788 names figured in the list. The OSEPA said it has published a draft merit list after taking into account availability of candidates in different categories.

Besides, the certificate verification of all candidates in the draft merit list will be conducted and all ineligible candidates removed from the list, it added.

The OSEPA further said, “The district allotment has been done on the basis of preferences selected by the candidates at the time of application and merit rank. It was an entirely automated and online process.”

Earlier, several aspirants for junior teacher posts staged a protest, alleging irregularities in selection process, in front of the OPESA office in Bhubaneswar.

Candidates attending the interviews will be reimbursed for their travel expenses, limited to the second/sleeper class train fare (Mail Express).

How to access the UPSC Civil Services 2023 interview schedule:

Go to the official UPSC website by visiting upsc.gov.in.
Locate and select the link for the UPSC Civil Services 2023 interview schedule on the homepage.
Open the newly generated PDF file to view the interview dates.
Download the page and keep a printed copy for future use.
The UPSC Mains examination was held on September 15, 16, 17, 23, and 24, 2023, and the results were declared on December 8, 2023.

Only candidates who successfully cleared the mains examination are eligible to appear in the upcoming personality tests.

An official notification in this regard has been issued by the General Administration & Public Grievance Department.

Tarai, an OAS officer, earlier served as Special Secretary in Revenue and Disaster Management Department.

In August, Inspector General of Registration in Cuttack Jyoti Prakash Das was given additional charge as BSE President following the appointment of his predecessor and 2010-batch IAS officer Ramashis Hazra as Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services.

A total of 5,51,611 students will appear in the annual examination, which will be conducted at 2991 centres across the state from February 20 to March 4. The process to rectify photo and other details began on December 14 and will continue till February 21, the board had said.

In a first, AI cameras will be installed in strong rooms, DEO office and examination halls for monitoring the exams. A command room with 7-8 persons will also be set up for operation of the AI cameras, it added.

The evaluation is set to commence from March 15 and will be completed within 12 days.

The examination schedule has been released for Arts, Science, Commerce including Distant Education (DE), Correspondence Course and Vocation Steams.

The exams will be conducted from 10 am onwards under CCTV surveillance. Candidates are advised to enter the examination centre 30 minutes before the commencement of the examination in a sitting, and enter the examination room/hall before 15 minutes of examination to occupy their seats allotted to them.

The practical exams are set to begin from January 2. The result of the examination is likely to be announced in April last week or May first week.

EXAM SCHEDULE

Candidates have been advised to enter the examination centre 30 minutes before the exam and examination room/ hall before 15 minutes of exam.

Question papers will be distributed five minutes before the examination. However, the candidates will be allowed to write the answers from 10 am onwards.

A total of 5,51,611 students will appear in the annual examination, which will be conducted at 2991 centres across the state and conclude on March 4.

Examination Schedule

February 20: Odia.

February 23: English.

February 26: Mathematics.

February 28: Hindi/ Sanskrit.

March 2: Science.

March 4: Social Science.

The evaluation of answer sheets will begin from March 15 and continue for al least 12 days, it added.