Patna, Feb 1 : The Class 12 examinations conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) started on Monday following strict security arrangements and Covid-19 protocols. A total of 1,473 examination centres have been set up across the state for conducting these exams. More than 13 lakh students are appearing for the exams from all over the state. BSEB Chairman Anand Kishor said adequate security arrangements have been made for conducting the Class 12 examinations. He said the first shift of the examination on Monday started at 9.30 a.m. For this the students would have to be present in the examination centre 10 minutes prior to the start of the exams. In view of this the students started arriving at the examination centres from 8 a.m. in the morning. After thermal screening and compulsory wearing of masks, the students were allowed to sit in the examination centres. These exams would be held till February 13. Kishor said that proper preparations have been made to conduct the intermediate examinations free from any malpractices. The District Magistrates have been provided clear instructions in every district to come up with efforts for conducting peaceful and malpractice-free examinations. A central inspector has been appointed to conduct the internal work in the examination centres. The BSEB has given 15 minutes to students to read the question paper this time as in the past. In addition, the board has also instructed the candidates that they can move out of the examination hall only after handing over the answer sheets to the teacher. The pattern of the question paper has been changed this year. Subjects of total 100 marks contain 50 objective-type questions. Options are given for answering each such question. /IANS