Smartwatch banned in Plus II exam halls in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), which conducts Plus II examinations in Odisha, has decided not to allow students wearing  smart watch into the examination halls. The annual Plus II examinations will begin on March 7.

The CHSE has taken the decision in order to prevent incidents such as question paper leak, which currently hit the High School Certificate (HSC) examinations in the State.

The students, however, are allowed to wear analogue watches while appearing the examinations, an official said.

“Students wearing analogue wrist watches will be allowed inside the examination hall but smart watches are strictly prohibited,” said CHSE Chairman Amarendra Kumar Patnaik.

He further said that if a student spends more than two minutes in the toilet room, the invigilator will frisk the student the moment he/she comes out of the toilet.

“The CHSE also decided that during the examination, a student can leave the examination hall without taking the question paper with him/her,” Patnaik added.

Speaking about the security arrangement for the annual tests, he said “the question papers from the hubs to the examination centres will arrive by 9.30 am amid tight security.”

Question papers will be kept in 202 hubs with CCTV surveillance and under the close watch of the armed police.

Sources said as many as 3.69 lakh students of Arts, Science and Commerce across the State are appearing the examination in 1,091 centres. The test this time will be conducted under the CCTV surveillance. Close to 937 centres have already installed CCTV cameras on their campuses out of total 1,091 centres.