HYDERABAD, April 8: The annual secondary school certificate (class IX and X) examinations got under way in most districts of Sindh on Monday under the auspices of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Hyderabad, amid reports of mismanagement, indiscipline and widespread use of unfair means.

A majority of around 115,000 male and female registered candidates appeared in the exams for which 206 centres were established.

MIRPURKHAS: Widespread complaints of cheating marred the otherwise peaceful holding of the SSC examinations in Mirpurkhas division on Monday.

At many centres, candidates were seen using unfair means while invigilators looked on. Outsiders were also seen helping candidates by supplying them with cheating material from outside the exam halls.

Security arrangements were made at 123 exam centres set up in Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar and Sanghar districts.

Reports from various centres suggested that candidates complained of unavailability of drinking water, presence of outsiders in large numbers and their interference in the process, functioning of photostet shops close to the centres in violation of relevant orders and trespassing on the part of unauthorised people.

BADIN: Candidates appearing in the SSC exams at most centres in Badin district complained that question papers were delivered to them with a considerable delay apparently owing to a short delivery from the BISE.

Sources said that invigilators at the affected centres got the question paper photocopied for distribution among the left out candidates.