Mangaluru/Udupi: Invigilation has been beefed up for the SSLC examination which begins on Wednesday, March 30. As many as 8.49 lakh students across the state will be appearing for the exam which will be conducted in 3,082 examination centres spread all over Karnataka.

In a first, the government has employed the services of officials from various departments. Invigilators and other staff including the chief superintendents are barred from carrying mobile phones to the centres. The government has issued a helpline number where people who come to know about incidents of violation of rules or irregularities in examination centres can pass the information.

Vigilance squads have been formed to ensure fair and transparent conducting of exams.

About 16,074 students in Udupi will write the examination at 58 centres.

Deputy Director of Public Instruction of the District, Divakar Shetty, said that all preventative measures have been taken to prevent malpractices. Photo copying centres within the radius of 200 meters from examination centres have been barred from functioning.

Students this time were not given study holidays. The department is high on confidence of repeating last year’s table topping performance again.