Matriculation exams begin in Odisha, 5.47 lakh students write first paper

The matriculation examinations began on Wednesday in which 5.47 lakh students wrote the Odia paper, officials said.

The fortnight-long class 10 board exams, conducted by the State Board of Secondary Education (BSE), will be held in 2,888 examination centers spread across the state, he said.

"The first day of the exams went off smoothly in all the centres barring a few incidents in which 44 students from various districts were caught adopting unfair means while writing the paper," BSE president Ramshis Hazra said.

On purported images of the question booklet going viral on the internet, Hazra said that the pages circulated on social media do not match with the original booklet published by the Board.

"Some mischievous elements had spread rumours to defame the Board and at the same time, inflict mental agony on the students," Hazra said.

He said the Board has taken adequate precautionary measures to ensure that the questions do not get leaked.

Examination Controller Nihar Ranjan Mohanty said that strict instructions have been issued to ensure that except the center superintendent, nobody carries a mobile phone inside an examination centre.

Even the center superintendent is also not allowed to carry a mobile phone inside the examination hall, he said.