Lucknow, February 18: The Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Council has officially launched the high school and intermediate board exams across the state under stringent security and technical surveillance. Students were greeted with flower showers, tilak, and sweets at various examination centers.
The first exam of the day was the Hindi paper for high school students. Candidates began arriving at the centers as early as 7:15 AM. In Lucknow, students at Kali Charan Inter College, Jubilee Inter College, and the Government Girls Inter College in Jiyamau received a warm welcome with tilak and flower showers. Teachers offered sweets, wishing students a bright future.
State Minister for Secondary Education (Independent Charge) Gulab Devi visited the examination center in Jiyamau to encourage the students. She urged them to approach the exams with confidence, free from stress and fear. The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring transparency and integrity in public examinations. Special examination centers have been established to maintain a copy-free and transparent environment. To ensure smooth operations, center administrators, external supervisors, static magistrates, sector magistrates, and zonal magistrates have been appointed. Additionally, regional and district mobile teams have been formed.
Several districts in the state have been declared sensitive, with some examination centers categorized as highly sensitive. The Special Task Force (STF) and local intelligence units are actively monitoring these centers, which are inspected twice daily. Two CCTV cameras with recording capabilities have been installed, and strong rooms are under 24/7 surveillance. Live webcasting is being utilized for monitoring the exams. A district-level control room has been set up in Lucknow, while a state-level control center oversees activities across all 75 districts.
To assist students and parents, the state has launched toll-free helpline numbers 18001806607 and 18001806608. The control room of the Secondary Education Council in Prayagraj is also operational. Strict actions against cheating are enforced under the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which mandates severe penalties for any discrepancies in question paper preparation, distribution, and evaluation.
Answer sheets feature special security features, and reserve question papers are securely stored in double-locked cabinets. In Sitapur district, 146 examination centers have been established, where students participated in the high school Hindi exam on the first day. Students were welcomed with tilak as they entered. However, there were reports of security forces’ absence at some centers during the initial hours. In Lucknow, candidates are taking exams at 121 centers, where a three-tier security system has been implemented, along with thousands of invigilators deployed. The exams will continue until March 12.
The administration assures that this year’s process is technology-driven, transparent, and closely monitored to provide students with a fair and secure environment. A total of 5,337,778 candidates have registered for the board exams across the state, including 2,761,696 high school students and 2,576,082 intermediate students, who will take their exams at designated centers according to the schedule. Extensive arrangements have been made across the state to conduct the exams in a copy-free, transparent, and organized manner.
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