PRAYAGRAJ, Dec. 18 -- Even before the centre-allocation process for the Uttar Pradesh Board's 2026 High School and Intermediate examinations begins, as many as 769 schools have been excluded from consideration. Of these, 254 schools had already been debarred, some as early as 2025, due to irregularities detected during board examinations in previous years. In addition, 515 schools have been prohibited from being selected as examination centres this year, having been removed from the pool even before the online centre-allocation process commenced at the board level. The Uttar Pradesh Board has circulated the complete list of debarred and prohibited institutions to all District Inspectors of Schools (DIOS). Among the 515 prohibited schools, Etah district accounts for the highest number at 130. According to UP Board secretary Bhagwati Singh, of the 515 prohibited schools, 208 are government secondary schools that are usually designated as examination centres through the Board's online system each year. However, their names did not appear in the district-level lists, leading to their advance exclusion. Of the 254 schools placed on the debarred list last month, 49 were penalised for irregularities during the 2025 board examinations. Notably, nearly one-fourth of these-12 schools-are located in Prayagraj. Among the institutions in Prayagraj, Surajdeen Bhagwadeen Yadav Inter College, Pachdevra Atrampur, and Late Indrani Devi Shukla Inter College, Bhusalpur Pipri, have been debarred from participating in the 2026 examinations. The remaining 10 schools have been barred for a period of three years...