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Matric exams begin in Punjab

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Annual Matriculation Examination for the year 2000 commenced throughout Punjab on Saturday, and will continue till March 27.

The examinations are being conducted according to a unified date sheet by all Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education in the province.

As many as 563,175 candidates are appearing in the examinations at 1,856 centres have been set up for the purpose, where 12,000 invigilators have been appointed to supervise the examinations.

For the first time, the Boards have introduced scanned photos of the candidates affixed on the roll number-cum date-sheet slips.

The Punjab Education Minister, Akhtar Saeed, made surprise visits at various examination centres in Lahore. He questioned the superintendents of centres about the measures taken to ensure secrecy of the question papers, safe return of the answer sheets to the Board office, and attendance of candidates.

He urged the staff to make foolproof arrangements for holding the examinations in peaceful atmosphere, and directed them not to spare anyone found using unfair means.

Chairman BISE, Lahore, Dr. Ijaz Ahmad, Controller of Examination Ashraf Qazi, and other officials accompanied the minister on the visit.