Dealing a severe blow to the UP Board management, nearly 65,000 students in 70 districts failed to appear for the first day of High School Board examination on Monday.

Reason: A majority did not receive admit cards. The rest did not appear owing to a sudden change in the examination centres or because the centres were too far.

“We are yet to ascertain the total number of students who did not sit for the exams and the reason for the huge number of absentees. The board cannot disown responsibility altogether,” said Prabha Tripathi, secretary of the Board.

“We have to look into the matter seriously if the figure of absentees is so high. This would dent the reputation of the Board,” said Tripathi.

According to sources in the Board, Allahabad alone has 3,000 students who could not give the examination. The Board reportedly changed 488  centres after February 26, causing chaos among students and schools. The districts where students did not take the exam include Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut and 36 others.    

The center managers had to issue admit cards on plain paper on the spot on Monday owing to the rush of students who did not have admit cards. This was reported in several schools including Radha Raman Inter College, Naini, Saraswati Bal Mandir, RC Inter College, Bal Shiksha Niketan, Ranit Pandit Inter college, Arya Kanya inter college, Puroshottam Singh inter college and host of others schools.

District Magistrate Rajeev Agrawal said he did not receive any information regarding the changes made in the examination centres.

The students and parents blamed the UP board and the schools. “My school could not provide me with the admit card as it was not sent by the Board. When I reached the exam centre at RC Inter College, I was not allowed to enter,” said Ravi Shukla, a student of Bal Shiksha Niketa.

“I made three representations to the District Inspector of School for my daughter's admit card but they passed the buck onto the school. The school blamed the Board,” said KS Singh, father of Anuradha, a student of Radha Raman Inter College. The Board, meanwhile, has cancelled the examination at the Lala Lajpat Rai Inter College, Meja, and lodged an FIR against the centre manager for mass copying.  

Principal, teacher arrested for aiding mass copying

The police arrested a principal and a teacher from Ghazipur and Azamgarh for facilitating mass copying during the UP Board exams on Monday. RK Lokku, Superintendent of Police of Ghazipur, said: “The principal of Ghurbari Inter College in Hatimpur area was caught when the district magistrate and I raided the college.” They found students copying openly. Six others were held as well. Ramit Sharma, SP, Azamgarh, said the sub-divisional magistrate of Sigri caught a teacher at Vikram Inter College in Jiyanpur helping the students copy.