Bihar 10th board exam turns slipper-y for students

It was a 'slipper-y' exam for over 17.70 lakh students who appeared at the Class 10 Matriculation examination of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) wearing chappals on Wednesday. This comes following the Board's directive barring shoes and socks at exam centres to ensure free and fair conduct.

On February 18, BSEB chairman Anand Kishor had issued the directive informing examinees not to wear shoes and socks at exam centres to curb unfair practices. While majority of students had turned up at the 1,426 centres in flip-flops or sandals, few students who were wearing shoes and socks were asked to remove it in the presence of guards, before entering the exam hall.

"According to the reports received from the districts, Day 1 of the exam went smoothly without any major incident of cheating or ruckus at the centres. Around 52 students were expelled from the exams for using unfair means," Kishor said. Around 10 impersonators (writing exam in place of the registered candidate) were also held on Wednesday.

The Board had put stringent security measures in place, which included frisking before entering the exam hall, installing CCTV cameras and video cameras, flying squads, and signing of declaration forms by invigilators and district education officers holding them responsible for use of any unfair means.

This is also the first time the BSEB has introduced around 50 per cent objective type questions in all papers. But following reports of the multiple-choice questions of Class 12 exams going viral on social media even before the conclusion of papers, the Board has asked the invigilators to collect the response sheets within one-and-a-half hour of the commencement of the exam.