**Bhubaneswar:** Odisha’s Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Thursday directed all the District Collectors and SPs to check malpractices during the High School Certificate Examinations (HSCE)-2018 to be conducted under the aegis of Odisha Board of Secondary Education (OBSE) across the state from this month.
While conducting a high-level preparatory meeting with the Collectors and SPs though video conferencing at the State Secretariat here, Padhi directed them to take all steps to conduct the exams peacefully. He also asked Bargarh district administration to be vigilant as the Bijepur by-poll is slated to be held on February 24.
The matric exams will begin from February 23 and will continue till March 8. Around 5, 90, 330 examinees are going to appear the annual tenth class exams, conducted by the BSE.
The hard copies of admit cards will be sent to the examination centres by February 17 while the online admit cards are available on board’s website – www.bseodisha.ac.in.
All the papers will be held between 9 and 11.30 am. However, extra 15 minutes will be allotted for the Mathematics paper. The board has decided to include 100 more exam centres this year to the existing number of centres.