Patna: As part of efforts to clamp down on cheating, authorities in Bihar have asked students appearing for the upcoming Grade 10 examination to report at examination centres wearing only sandals — not shoes or socks.

The weeklong examination being conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) begins on Wednesday.

The move comes after close to 1,000 students were expelled for cheating in the Grade 12 examination which concluded last week.

The authorities are said to be perplexed over the students’ attempts at using unfair means in examinations.

“Students coming to the examinations centres in shoes and shocks have been strictly banned this time. Only those who come in [sandals] will be allowed to enter exam halls. Such practice has already been in place in some competitive examinations,” BSEB chairman Anand Kishore told the media today.

Last year, authorities had banned the wearing of long-sleeved shirts as well.

Kishore said the students would be allowed to take in only pens and admit cards at the examination centres and nothing else.

He added he had asked all the education officers and examination centre superintendents to strictly follow the board’s order. A total of 1.77 million students are taking the examination this time.

Bihar education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma defended the move by the BSEB saying it would save time of the students.

“It consumes a lot of time for students to take of their shoes and shocks at the examination centres. Coming in slippers will obviously save their time,” the minister said.

The state government has also warned of serious consequences for officials caught promoting the use of unfair means in the examination, saying culprits would be dismissed from the job.

CCTV cameras have also been installed at exam centres, besides promulgation of section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code to contain cheating.

The severe security measures come in the background of a recent viral photograph in the social media which showed guardians and other family members alike climbing the walls of an examination centre in Bihar and supplying cheat sheets to the students which earned worldwide condemnation.

Bihar suffered further embarrassment after 2016 Grade 12 Arts topper Ruby Rai had no idea about what subjects she had been taught in the classrooms and spelt Political Science as “Prodikal Science”. Similar embarrassment came in 2017 when Grade 12 Arts topper Ganesh Kumar, 24, was found to be 42-year old and a father of two children.