Matric exam from April 17

CUTTACK/BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited annual high school certificate (HSC) examination for regular students, which was stalled abruptly, will start from April 17 and continue till April 26. The Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, conducting the matriculation examination, announced this after its examination committee meeting at Cuttack on Tuesday.
"We have decided to conduct the fresh matriculation examination from April 17 and it will conclude on April 26," said Satyakam Mishra, board's president. He said the board has decided to keep one day gap in between the examination of each paper to allow students to prepare for their exams in a better way.
The matriculation examinations for regular students were suspended on March 21, after it was found that question papers of the remaining subjects were stolen from an examination centre, Bhagabati Vidyapitha in Bajapur village in Puri district. On March 21, students had appeared English paper but that examination was cancelled too.
The board's declaration of the fresh exam dates has come as a big relief for nearly 4.66 lakh students appearing for the examination and their parents who are desperately waiting for examination dates. "Thank god, the board has finally announced fresh dates of examination. I was so tensed from the past few days. Now, I can concentrate on my studies properly," said Siddhartha Ray, an examinee.
On Tuesday, the issue cropped in the assembly where members cutting across party lines demanded the government to take steps to announce the fresh examination dates soon. The state government meanwhile has ordered for a crime branch probe on the theft and leakage of question papers of annual matriculation examination which lead to its abrupt cancellation.
School and mass education minister Pratap Jena while announcing the crime branch probe order in the House had also informed that the government also has been taking several steps to make the annual matriculation examination error-free and not to repeat such instance in future. He said one nodal centre would function in each district under the supervision of the district collector for safe storage and supply of examination papers to nearest examination centres. Besides, the government would follow the pattern of CBSE and ICSE to conduct HSC examinations, he said.