Odisha Matric Summative Assessment begins amid COVID protocols

Bhubaneswar: Summative Assessment-I for the students of Class-10 conducted by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) commenced at 3,093 examination centres across Odisha today with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

The examinations, scheduled to conclude on January 8, are being held in two sittings– 10 am to 11 am and 12 noon to 1 pm.

As many as 5,76,223 students had registered themselves for the exams.

To check malpractice, the BSE has formed a four-tier squad to conduct surprise checks at examination centres. Apart from 40 central squads, as many as 72 squads have been constituted to check malpractice.

Mobile phones will not be allowed inside exam centres. Only Centre Superintendents will be allowed to keep mobile phone on certain conditions.

As part of safety measure related to COVID-19, a maximum of 24 examinees will be allowed to sit in an examination hall, which will be sanitised daily.

Both the invigilators and examinees have to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

Earlier, the examinations were scheduled to begin on December 27, 2021. However, BSE later postponed the exam to January 5, 2022.