Patna, Feb 21 (IANS): Over 17 lakh students in flip-flops entered the examination centres in Bihar to appear for their Class 10 boards on Wednesday as shoes and socks were banned this year to check rampant cheating activities, an official said.

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) in a notification had made it clear that students wearing shoes and socks will not be allowed to enter the examination centres.

Three days after the notification, 17.70 lakh students on Wednesday appeared for the exams at 1,426 centres across the state that will continue till February 28.

There was nothing new to this order though, said BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore, who issued the instructions.

"It is the usual practice in other competitive examinations held in the state. The board decided to adopt the practice from this year," Kishore said.

The BSEB officials are expecting that the annual examinations this year would be fair and mass cheating would become a thing of the past in Bihar.

Nearly 1,000 students were penalised for cheating during the Class 12 exams that concluded on February 17.

In 2017, the Class 12 Arts stream topper was a 42-year-old man, who was later arrested on charges of faking his age to take the exams.

In 2016, Ruby Rai had topped Class 12 examination conducted by the Bihar State Education Board in Humanities stream. She got into trouble after a sting by a TV channel, which showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects.

Saurabh Shreshtha, Science stream topper of Class 12 in 2016, was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic Science questions.