PRAYAGRAJ, July 3 -- The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) has issued the examination centre determination policy for the 2027 High School and Intermediate examinations, introducing key safeguards to curb the arbitrary removal of examination centres recommended through its online system and strengthening transparency in the process. The revised policy, issued by the state government's joint secretary, Sanjay Kumar on Thursday, mandates that district-level examination centre determination committees can no longer remove an examination centre proposed through the Board's software without following a prescribed procedure. The move comes in the wake of recurring allegations against district education officials over the arbitrary exclusion of eligible schools from the final list of examination centres. Under the new guidelines, if a district committee proposes to remove an online-allotted examination centre, it must first issue a notice to the school's principal or management, clearly stating the reasons for the proposed removal and seeking their response. The committee can take a final decision only after examining the reply and verifying the facts. The Board has also enhanced incentives for schools adopting digital attendance. While schools received 10 marks last year for uploading students' attendance on the online portal, they will now receive 20 marks for maintaining online attendance records of students, teachers and other staff for at least 180 working days. Another significant change is that applications seeking recognition as new examination centres will no longer be entertained by the Board-level Centre Determination Committee. Only representations related to excessive distance from allotted centres or allocation of students beyond a centre's seating capacity will be considered. Additionally, district and Board-level committees will now be required to upload reports on the disposal of online objections and representations on the UP Board website, enhancing transparency in the process. The Board has issued the 2027 examination centre policy nearly four months earlier than it did last year. While the policy for the 2026 examinations was released on November 1, 2026, the new policy was notified on July 1 this year, allowing schools and district authorities additional time to complete the process. Schools have been asked to upload details of their infrastructure, facilities and other mandatory information on the Board's portal by July 20....