The minister, on the other hand, said the protest was baseless and that if the teachers do not participate in conducting the examination, the department will deploy government employees or other teachers to supervise the exams.

“It’s not as if the teachers have been insulted or anything. The basis for this protest seems to be unreasonable, maybe dirty politics. If the teachers back out, we will deploy government employees, teachers from other departments, private teachers etc to conduct the examination. Students will not be made to suffer because of the whims of the teachers. We have various options to conduct transparent and fair examinations,” said Mishra, while addressing mediapersons regarding board examination in the Secondary Education Directorate.

He added, “We have no intentions of hurting anyone, hence no FIRs will be registered against the students. Instead, they will be properly frisked before entering the examination centres. We will treat them as students, not criminals. On the other hand, there will be no UPCOCA on the teachers. Action would be taken against them as per the rules laid by the UP Board.”

On being questioned about recommending UPCOCA against some teachers by Balia District Inspector of Schools Umesh Tripathi, the minister said he has ordered an inquiry into the matter and has asked the police also to look into any such application given by the DIOS.

Meanwhile, Arun Mishra, Principal Secretary, Secondary Education, clarified the huge downfall in the number of candidates appearing for the Class X board examination: “The fall in the number of students appearing for High School Examination is because of the proper scrutiny this time. All those indulging in unfair means or filling double examination forms to suit their means have backed out.”

It is to be noted that the number of students appearing for UP Board High School examination has decreased by 2.7 lakh this year, compared to the last year.

While 31,15,441 candidates had appeared for 2007 High School examination, this year the figure has plummeted to just 28,41,542 though the number of students appearing for intermediate examination has seen a three per cent increase.