PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 2 -- More than 52 lakh students have registered for the UP Board's high school and intermediate examinations for 2027, marking a decline of 132,719 registrations compared to the previous year, according to board data. UP Board secretary Bhagwati Singh confirmed that 27,75,741 students have registered for the Class 10 examination and 24,28,972 for Class 12, bringing the combined total to 5,204,713. For comparison, the 2026 board examinations saw a combined total of 5,337,432 registrations, with 27,61,972 students in Class 10 and 25,75,460 in Class 12. Officials attribute this decline largely to the high pass percentages achieved in the 2026 examinations, where 90.42% of Class 10 students and 80.38% of Class 12 students passed. Traditionally, a significant portion of registration numbers in subsequent years is driven by students re-enrolling after failing previous exams; fewer failures in 2026 have directly impacted this year's figures. The board has set an October 8 deadline to complete the verification and updating of student records, including names, parental details, dates of birth, gender, subject choices and photographs. Meanwhile, preparations for the 2027 exams are already underway, with the board finalising question papers and beginning the printing of answer sheets. While registrations for board-level exams (Classes 10 and 12) have dipped, interest at the foundational levels has grown. Registrations for Classes 9 and 11 rose by 91,396 this year. By the September 30 online registration deadline, 27,55,665 students had registered for Class 9 and 22,81,865 for Class 11, totaling 5,037,530 students-up from 4,946,134 last year. The reduction in board-level examinees is expected to decrease the number of required examination centers. Based on the current registration figures and an average allocation of 500 to 1,000 candidates per site, the board may require approximately 265 fewer centres this year. For the 2026 high school and intermediate examinations, the board had set up 8,033 centres for 53,37,432 registered candidates. In 2025, 8,140 centres were used for 54,37,174 candidates, while 8,265 centres were set up in 2024 for 55,25,342 registered students....