The board will convene a meeting on January 31 to decide on the new rules for providing writers to the differently-abled students.

GSHSEB Secretary R I Patel said: “To tackle the menace of dummy writers, this year, we have decided to overhaul new rules. The examination committee is holding a meeting to decide on new rules to keep frauds like those that had surfaced last year at bay.”

The criteria for selection of writers will be decided by the committee as against the present method of the District Education Officer (DEO) granting the permission, Patel added.

Under the present rules, a scribe should be someone who has scored less than 55 per cent and is in a class lower than X or XII for which he/she is writing the exam.

Moreover, the students are allowed to choose their writers: a rule that had resulted in two students using scribes after faking fractures last year.

P B Gadhvi (DEO) said: “Now that new rules will be decided, we will be working as the implementing authority of the rules. Earlier, we had to select the writers. Now, the power of selection is likely to be taken over by the board.”

An Education Department official said on condition of anonymity: “It has been noticed that there was a mismatch between the guidelines issued by the board and what was being followed at the centres.”