Bhubaneswar, 19 February (H.S.): The annual Matric Examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha commenced on Thursday across the state, with 5,61,979 students appearing at 3,082 examination centres.

The examination began at 9:00 am under extensive arrangements made jointly by the Board and the School and Mass Education Department to ensure a smooth and orderly process. Question papers were dispatched from designated nodal centres and opened at the examination halls in the presence of the centre superintendent and students, as per prescribed norms.

The test is scheduled from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. Officials and staff on examination duty have been prohibited from using mobile phones. To curb malpractice, authorities have deployed a three-tier squad system along with special vigilance teams visiting centres across the state.

As an added security measure, QR codes and watermark technology have been incorporated into the question papers. Centre superintendents have also been instructed to submit daily reports to the Board after each examination.

An advanced command and control room has been set up at the Board headquarters in Cuttack, from where authorities are maintaining round-the-clock surveillance of all examination and nodal centres. AI-enabled CCTV cameras are monitoring activities, from the opening of question paper packets to movement inside examination halls.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda