Prayagraj: To strengthen the security and transparency of the evaluation process, the UP Board has, for the first time, used the postal department to transport answer sheets from collection centres to evaluation centres for the Class X improvement examination and Class XII compartment examination. The pilot project is expected to minimise the risk of answer sheets being lost or stolen during transit and reduce transportation costs.The examinations were conducted on July 28 at 92 centres across all 75 districts of the state. According to board officials, answer sheets from every district have been dispatched to Government Inter College (GIC), Prayagraj, which has been designated as the state’s sole central collection centre for the exercise.In districts with more than one examination centre, answer sheets were first brought to the district collection centres through the conventional system involving teachers and other staff members. The postal department then collected the answer sheets and transported them to GIC, Prayagraj.After reaching Prayagraj, the answer sheets will be scanned and uploaded to the digital evaluation system. They will then be sent electronically to the evaluation centres established at Prayagraj, Varanasi and Meerut. Marks awarded by evaluators will also be uploaded online.Officials believe the new arrangement will significantly reduce the risk of answer sheets being lost, misplaced or stolen while being transported from one district to another. The move is also expected to reduce expenditure on deploying teachers, employees and security personnel to carry answer sheets to evaluation centres.The change assumes significance because several incidents related to the transportation of answer sheets have been reported in recent years. In March 2024, a teacher carrying answer sheets to a collection centre was allegedly shot dead by a police constable accompanying him in Muzaffarnagar. Earlier this year, photographs and videos showing teachers transporting answer sheets on motorcycles, scooters and e-rickshaws, allegedly without security personnel, also surfaced.UP Board secretary Bhagwati Singh said this was the first time answer sheets had been transported from collection centres to evaluation centres through the postal department. He added that a report on the pilot project had been sought and, if the arrangement proved successful, it would be implemented for the main High School and Intermediate examinations next year.Meanwhile, uncertainty continues over the fate of 8,382 schools that failed to upload their infrastructure details before the board’s deadline ahead of the process of determining examination centres for the 2027 board examinations. Of the state’s 29,182 schools, only 20,800 completed the process within the stipulated period. The remaining institutions included 435 government schools, 438 aided schools and 7,509 unaided schools.
