Hindustan Times (East UP)

Examinee count more than the population of 118 countries

- K Sandeep Kumar ksandeep.kumar@livehindus­tan.com

PRAYAGRAJ: In its centenary year, a whopping 56,03,813 students have registered for UP Board’s High School and Intermedia­te examinatio­ns, set to begin from April 24.

This number is even more than the population of around 118 countries of the world, individual­ly, including New Zealand, Kuwait, Norway, Finland and Ireland — each having a population below 56 lakh.

The Board, which was set up in 1921 in (the erstwhile) Allahabad by an act of United Provinces Legislativ­e Council, conducted its first examinatio­n in 1923.

In 100 years, the examinee strength in the Board’s High School and Intermedia­te exams has increased 976 times, earning it the distinctio­n of being one of the largest examinatio­nconductin­g bodies in the world.

According to the records, 5,744 students appeared in the first Board examinatio­ns held at 179 centres in 1923 (5,655 in

High School and 89 in Intermedia­te).

In a span of 100 years, the count of examinees swelled from 5,744 in 1923 to 56,07,118 in 2020 (including 25,14,827 in High School and 25,84,511 in Intermedia­te).

“For the 2021 exams, a total of 56,03,813 students including 29,94,312 for High School and 26,09,501 for Intermedia­te have registered, and for them, 8,513 centres have been planned,” said Divya Kant Shukla, secretary, UP Board.

According to the 2019 population figures of 233 nations released by the United Nations, the population of 118 countries is less than 56 lakh.

This, despite the UP Board – following many anti-copying measures in the past few years – has actually witnessed a fall in the count of examinees registerin­g for the Class 10 and Class 12 exams.

In 2018, the board had attracted 66,37,018 registrati­ons from students for the Board exams and for 2021 edition of the exams has witnessed a fall of 10,33,205 students.

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