Prayagraj, Mar 17 (IANS): As many as 56 lakh students have registered this year to appear in the high school and intermediate examinations of Uttar Pradesh Board, despite the impact of Covid 19 on the education in schools.
The total number of students this year is 56, 03, 813.
This, incidentally, is also the centenary year of the UP Secondary Education Board, also known as UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad.
UP Board secretary Divya Kant Shukla, said, "For 2021 exams, a total of 56,03,813 students, including 29,94,312 of high school and 26,09,501 of intermediate have registered. There will be a total 8,513 examination centres this year."
Interestingly, the total number of students appearing in the board exams that begin from April 24, exceeds the population of around 118 countries, including New Zealand, Kuwait, Norway, Finland and Ireland, each having less than 56 lakh citizens.
The UP Board was set up in 1921 at Allahabad by an act of the United Provinces Legislative Council and had conducted its first examination in 1923.
In its 100 years of journey, the number of students appearing in its high school and intermediate exams has increased 976 times, earning it the distinction of being one of the largest examination-conducting bodies of the world.
As per records, 5,744 students had registered for the board's first examinations conducted at 179 centres in 1923. Then 5,655 students were in high school and 89 in intermediate.
In 1947, the examinee count swelled to 48,519 for which 224 examination centres were made. The count further increased to 1,72,246 in 1952.
The number is still high even though UP Board had adopted strict anti-copying measures, following which the number of examinees registering for exams has fallen in the past few years.
The UP Board has opened regional offices in Meerut (1973), Varanasi (1978), Bareilly (1981), Prayagraj (1987) and Gorakhpur (2017), which are running under regional secretaries.
"The increase in the number of examinees has increased the workload many times. Five regional offices were set up over the years new technologies were embraced besides adopting anti-copying measures for holding fair examinations," said officials.