Patna: At least 426 students, including girls, were expelled after being caught cheating during the Intermediate Examination that started today.
 
The control room set up in Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) said a total of 426 students were expelled across the state on the first day of the examination.
 
Maximum 49 students were expelled in Munger district, followed by 48 in Aurangabad for using unfair means in the examination, the control room said.
 
The BSEB has been making elaborate preparation to conducta cheating-free examination this year to erase the bad name  the state had earned after photographs of parents and friends supplying chits to examinees at a centre in Vaishali district had gone viral last year.
 
New Education minister Ashok Choudhary had on several occasions talked about stringent arrangements to check copying in the board exam.
 
A total of 11.57 lakh examinees are writing the Intermediate examination in Bihar at 1,109 centres.
 
Despite putting elaborate arrangements, reports of cheating came from examination centres in many districts.
 
Media reports highlighted that people vandalised a school in Chapra after they were not allowed to copy.
 
People were shown climbing a school building in Vaishali district to provide chits to examinees at a centre.