U.P. Board: Pages of HS, Inter answer-sheets to be numbered

Answer-sheets for the forthcoming High School and Intermediate examination-2024 of UP Board, set to begin from February 22, have started reaching all the districts of the state.

To thwart attempts of cheating Mafia, this year the security standards of these answer-sheets have been further raised. For the first time, numbering of the pages of the answer-sheets has been done on the inner pages of ‘A’ answer book, Board officials said.

The officials maintain that this move will eliminate the possibility of swapping inner pages of the answer sheets by the copying Mafia.

The serial numbers have also been printed on the cover page of ‘A’ and ‘B’ answer sheets as an added measure, they added.

Arrangements have also been made to provide stitched answer sheets in all the districts as was done last time too so that pages cannot be added or replaced by removing the stapler pin of answer-book.

The ‘A’ answer-book of High School will be dark brown in colour and the ‘B’ copy will be dark violet. However, the ‘A’ answer-sheet of Intermediate exam has been printed in dark magenta colour while the ‘B’ answer-sheet has been printed dark red, the official said.

The lines of the answer-sheets have also been printed according to the colours of the cover, the officials shared.

This would make attempts to use pre-written past year’s answer-sheets to replace pages this year impossible, they claimed.

The ‘logo’ of the UP Board, formally known as Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, has been printed with security code on the cover page and last page of the answer-books and even art exam papers etc. ‘A’ logo has also been placed on the inside page of the answer books too.

According to officials, the Board has increased these features for the security of copies so that no tampering takes place and the cheating Mafia does not get room to do any hanky-panky.

UP Board secretary Dibyakant Shukla said that the Board was committed to conduct a copying free High School and Intermediate exams-2024.

UP Board will conduct its Class 10 and 12 examinations-2024 at 8,264 centres spread across the 75 districts of the state between February 22 and March 9. UP Board released the examination schedule on December 7, 2023. The examinations will be held in two shifts: 8.30am to 11.45am and from 2pm to 5.15pm.