Prayagraj: The Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board (UP Board) is bracing for the High School and Intermediate examinations, which will kick off on Wednesday at 8,033 centres across the state, with strict anti-cheating measures in place. Authorities have arranged round-the-clock CCTV surveillance of strong rooms, monitored from command centres in Prayagraj, Lucknow and other locations. The examinations will be held in two shifts. The first shift will run from 8:30 am to 11:45 am, while the second shift will take place from 2:00 pm to 5:15 pm. A total of 27,61,696 students have registered for the High School examination and 25,76,082 for the Intermediate examination, taking the combined total to 53,37,778 candidates. Monitoring of the exams will be carried out through control rooms set up at five regional offices and all district headquarters. To ensure strict supervision, 1,637 officials, including 1,210 sector magistrates and 427 zonal magistrates, have been deployed for inspections. Furthermore, 440 mobile squads and 69 divisional mobile teams (509 in total) will conduct surprise inspections at examination centres during the exams. To ensure the security of question papers stored in strong rooms, officials and staff have been assigned round-the-clock duties in three shifts at the Command and Control Room at the Board headquarters. , Additional secretary (Administration) Satendra Kumar Singh has been appointed as the nodal officer for the first shift, Senior finance and accounts officer Vikram Singh for the second shift and additional secretary (Research) Skand Shukla for the third shift. Deputy secretary (Administration) Devvrat Singh has been designated as co-nodal officer. Additionally, 18 divisional-level supervisors and 75 state-level district supervisors have been appointed for oversight. In a first, the Board has ordered the issuance of identity cards to non-teaching staff at examination centres. Previously, only invigilators were issued ID cards. Board secretary Bhagwati Singh said that the step aims to ensure a copying-free examination process. QR code-enabled printed ID cards for invigilators had already been uploaded on the Board’s portal, and instructions were earlier sent to all District School Inspectors. Now, QR code-based ID cards for non-teaching staff performing various duties at examination centres have also been uploaded. School principals have been instructed to download and print the ID cards of non-teaching staff in duplicate from the Board’s portal. One copy, duly countersigned, will remain with the principal, while the other will be kept in office records. District School Inspectors will be responsible for ensuring that no incorrect ID cards are issued. Emphasising collective responsibility, Bhagwati Singh said, “The success of the Board examinations depends not only on administrative strictness but also on the honest participation of students, parents, teachers, and society.” He warned that students caught cheating could face cancellation of their exams, legal action, and even debarment from future examinations.
