PRAYAGRAJ, Feb. 19 -- As the UP Board examinations commenced on Wednesday, a QR-code based identification system for all examination duty staff, including non-teaching employees, was put into operation at centres to regulate access and strengthen anti-copying measures. The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) has issued QR-coded identity cards to invigilators, centre superintendents and support staff for the 2026 High School and Intermediate examinations. Around 40,000 non-teaching personnel have been deployed to assist in the conduct of the examinations. Officials said the measure was introduced after complaints last year about unauthorised persons being present at certain centres. Until now, only room invigilators were issued identity cards, while non-teaching staff had no formal verification mechanism. Alongside the new system, the board has arranged 24x7 CCTV monitoring of strongrooms at all 8,033 examination centres through a centralised control room set up at its headquarters. It has also categorised 222 centres as highly sensitive and 683 as sensitive for closer surveillance. Board secretary Bhagwati Singh said the QR-coded identity cards have been uploaded on the official website for examination duty as well as support staff. A copy of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) detailing their use has also been made available online. As per the SOPs, principals of secondary schools are required to download and print the identity cards of non-teaching staff in duplicate, verify the details and photographs as per school records, and sign them before submitting the cards to the district inspector of schools (DIOS) for marking and countersigning. All cards contain QR codes that can be scanned by departmental or administrative officers using mobile phones for random checks or in case of doubt, enabling verification of personnel deployed at examination centres....