Assam gears up for HSLC, HS exams with tight security for 7.6 lakh students
The government is preparing with flying squads, strict surveillance, frisking, and district-level control rooms to ensure smooth, malpractice-free exams.
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Guwahati, Feb 5: With over 7.6 lakh candidates set to appear in the HSLC and Higher Secondary (HS) Final Examinations, 2026, the State government and the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) have put in place a multi-layered security and supervision mechanism to ensure smooth conduct of examinations and zero tolerance towards malpractice.
District and State-level examination supervision committees have been activated to monitor every stage of the examination process.
Flying squads led by executive magistrates will conduct surprise inspections, while district administrations have been empowered to impose prohibitory orders around examination centres to prevent unlawful gatherings and external interference.
This year, the HSLC examination will be held from February 10 to February 27. The exams would be held in 1046 centres – highest ever in the history of the Board.
On the other hand, the HS final exam would be held from February 11 to March 16 in 821 examination centres with 48 evaluation zones.
As per official data, 4,38,565 candidates will appear in the HSLC examination while 3,30,744 are set to take the Higher Secondary final examination this year.
“Of the total examination centres for the HSLC, 194 centres have been identified as sensitive and most sensitive by the inspectors of schools after proper assessment.
Naturally, enhanced surveillance and stricter monitoring arrangements have been made for such centres,” Nayanjyoti Sarma, Controller of Examination told The Assam Tribune.
To curb unfair practices, mandatory frisking of candidates will be carried out before entry into examination halls. Use of mobile phones has been strictly restricted, with all devices belonging to invigilators and officials to be deposited with the centre in-charge, barring a few authorized officials for emergency communication.
The examination centres will be staffed with trained invigilators drawn exclusively from government and provincialized schools, with authorities making it clear that no teachers from private schools will be involved in invigilation duties.
Subject teachers will not be assigned invigilation responsibilities on the day of their respective examinations to avoid any conflict of interest.
At the State level, the State Level Examination Supervision Committee will oversee district operations with special emphasis on the security of question papers and OMR sheets, including their storage and transportation from police stations and packet opening points.
Dedicated district control rooms will function throughout the examination and evaluation period, maintaining constant coordination with the central control room.
Officials said the coordinated effort between the education department, district administration and police aims to ensure that the HSLC and HS examinations are conducted peacefully, transparently and without any scope for malpractice.