Lucknow, Mar 24 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh school board exams for Classes 10 and 12 started on Thursday under strict arrangements, with close to three lakh cameras installed at centres to curb cheating.

The feed from 8,373 centres is being monitored at district-level control rooms, officials said.

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The state government had earlier warned that the stringent National Security Act (NSA) will be slapped against those found using unfair means during the exams.

All exam centres will be monitored closely with help of staff and a total of 2,97,124 CCTV cameras, officials had earlier said.

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No major such incident was reported on Thursday, senior officials said.

Senior officials inspected several exam centres and reviewed the arrangements.

The exams will continue till April.

The exam are being conducted in two shifts from 8 am to 11.15 am and 2 pm to 5.15 pm.

A total of 27,81,654 students had registered for Class 10 exams this year, of which 12,28,456 are girls and 15,53,198 boys.

Similarly, 24,11,035 students are to appear for the Class 12 exams, of which 10,86,835 are girls and 13,24,200 boys.

In all, 51,92,689 students registered for the UP board exams.

Of the 8,373 exam centres, 6,398 are in rural areas while 1,975 are located in urban areas.

The state government has declared 861 exam centres "sensitive" and 254 as "very sensitive".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)