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UP Board 2023 paper checking: Tight security at 258 evaluation centres
The UP Board has appointed 1,43,933 examiners for evaluating around 3.19 crore answer sheets of its high school and intermediate students
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, will remain in force around 258 centres in the state where the evaluation of UP Board’s high school and intermediate examination-2023 answer sheets will start from March 18. The section 144 prohibits assembly of four or more people in an area.
“For the first time, the responsibility of evaluation centres has also been entrusted on to static magistrates who will be deputed for the task,” said UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla. “At each evaluation centre, the static magistrate concerned will distribute 10 bundles of answer sheets at a time to deputy head examiner selecting the bundles from the strong room on random basis for evaluation by examiners,” he added.
“In case of any discrepancy in the evaluation too, the static magistrate concerned will be held accountable. Police in civvies will also be present at the centres along with intelligence personnel. Four armed police personnel will be stationed at each evaluation centre to ensure smooth and peaceful evaluation,” Shukla said. “The UP Board has appointed 1,43,933 examiners for evaluating around 3.19 crore answer sheets of its high school and intermediate students,” he added.
This year, 58,85,745 students— including 31,16,487 Class 10 students and 27,69,258 Class 12—had registered for the high school and intermediate exams of the UP Board. Of them, 4,31,571 students, including 2,08,953 of Class 10 and 2,22,618 of Class 12, didn’t appear in the exams. The high school and intermediate exams-2023 had started on February 16 and concluded on March 4.
Board officials said the examiners will not be able to take their mobile phones with them inside the evaluation rooms. In a letter sent to all the district magistrates on behalf of principal secretary, secondary education, Deepak Kumar on March 14, they have been asked to cooperate in the evaluation process with accuracy.
UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla said the entire evaluation work will be undertaken under the surveillance of CCTV cameras. “Monitoring of evaluation centres will be done from the control room established at district and state levels. There will also be live monitoring of the ongoing evaluation through webcasting,” he added.
Shukla warned that strict action will be taken if any examiner was caught with a mobile phone. There will be a separate room in the centres where the mobile phones of the examiners will be kept.
The principal of District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) concerned will be responsible for the supervision of the evaluation centres. The DIET principal of each district will check all the evaluation centres in their respective areas. Supervisors will also ensure that outsiders are not allowed to visit any centre, officials said.
The answer sheets of high school and intermediate examination students, who get zero marks, will be re-checked this time. The UP Board has taken this decision the first time so that if the examiner mistakenly gives zero to a student or forgets to award marks, this error can be caught during the evaluation process itself.
All deputy chief examiners have been instructed that like previous years, they will also put their signatures after checking the answer sheets of those candidates who bag more than 90% marks. One extra mark will also be given for neat and beautiful handwriting. However, the examiner will take care that the total score of the candidate does not exceed the total marks of the exam question paper, Shukla said.
