Class XII boards off to smooth start, no sensitive centre in Gurdaspur, Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Gurdaspur/Taran Tarn, February 20

The Punjab School Education Board Class XII exams began today, with the first exam of Punjabi (general) conducted. District Education Officer (SC) Jugraj Singh Randhawa said papers were conducted across 185 centres today. To conduct these papers in a smooth manner, 18 flying squads were put on duty and 42 examination centres have been formed in Amritsar. No untoward incident was reported on the first day. No exam centre in Amritsar has been declared as sensitive, not even in the border and rural belts. In Amritsar, 27,617 students will take the PSEB boards, while 29,598 students will take the Class VIII boards. In Class X, 27,000 students will take the PSEB boards this year in Amritsar.

Khemkaran belt centres ‘sensitive’ in Tarn Taran

The 2023 PSEB board exams for classes VIII, X and XII commenced on Monday. In Taran Tarn, District Education Officer (Secondary) Satnam Singh Bath said 13,499 students had appeared for the Class XII exam, for which 105 exam centres had been formed.

Around 28,000 students would be taking the Class XII PSEB boards in the district, with 128 Superintendents and the same number of Deputy Superintendents being appointed to oversee smooth conduct of the exams. Besides, a nodal control room has been set up to take care of any emergency situation or problem.

The Taran Tarn Deputy DEO (S) is the nodal officer of the exam said 12 flying squads too had been formed to make sure a peaceful atmosphere is created for the students. Most of the exam centers in the Khemkaran border area were considered sensitive centres.

No centre ‘sensitive’

in Gurdaspur

Not even a single centre out of the total of 162 centres of this border district has been declared sensitive. Amarjit Singh Bhatia, DEO (Secondary), said a centre is declared ‘sensitive’ or ‘super-sensitive’ based on the previous year’s records pertaining to cheating. “This year, the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has not designated any centre as ‘sensitive’ where there are chances that cheating or other illegal practices might take place. This development augurs well for the district,” said Bhatia.

Whenever a centre is designated as ‘sensitive’, extra staff is deployed. In some cases, the help of police is sought. Like last time, no examination centre will have more than 500 students or less than 150 students. A total of 23,174 students took the Punjabi examination in Gurdaspur, which was held today. There have been reports that some centres are located too far away and that it would be difficult for students to make their way to them.

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