Kolkata: A substantially higher number of girl candidates, as compared to boys, will appear in this year's class 10 state board exams in West Bengal, which will begin on February 10, a senior official said on Friday.

West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Ramanuj Ganguly said that the exams will be held in 2,683 centres under strict surveillance till February 22.

Ganguly said that out of the 9,84,753 candidates appearing for the exams this year, 5,55,950 are girls, which is a welcome sign indicating high rate of girl's education in the state.

Besides candidates, most of the officials assigned with the task of conducting exams will not be allowed to carry mobile phones or any other electronic gadgets in the exam halls, he said.

If any gadget is found in the possession of a candidate, he or she will not be allowed to write the paper.

This measure is necessary to prevent candidates from resorting to any unfair means, he said, adding special checks will be conducted in washrooms as some candidates are found to adopt malpractices outside the exam halls.

The board president said that 181 candidates will be enrolled before Monday's examination and authorities of 136 schools were responsible for the ordeal of these candidates whose details were not sent to the board in due course of time.

"It is an onerous process to issue fresh admit cards to so many students at the last moment as the schools failed to act on time. After verifying their request and processing them, finally, we are happy to facilitate the exam of these 181 candidates," he said, adding all these students will get their admit cards by Sunday.

The exams will begin at 11 am, with question papers being distributed at 10.45 am, and will continue till 2 pm.

Recalling the disqualification of 45 candidates last year for adopting unfair means, the senior board official said, "We have zero tolerance for unfair practices in the exams."