The district administrations of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam made elaborate arrangements for the peaceful conduct of class X examinations, which commenced Thursday.

In Visakhapatnam district, 618 candidates out of 62,661 were absent for the exam. Further, 18 students were debarred from taking the examination for resorting to copying. According to district educational officer MV Krishna Reddy, 17 students were debarred at Zilla Parishad High School in Chintapalle and one at Government High School in Devarapalli. He issued show cause notices to the chief superintendent of examinations at Chintapalle High School and four invigilators.

Meanwhile, Collector N Yuvaraj visited the test centre at Narava and expressed his satisfaction over the arrangements.

Out of 31,840 students, 103 did not take examination in Vizianagaram district. No irregularities were reported on the first day at all the 145 exam centres. District in-charge collector B Rama Rao visited various test centres and oversaw the arrangements.

In Srikakulam district, exams were conducted in 189 centres. Out of 41,485 students, 234 were absent from the examinations, which went off smoothly on the first day. Collector P Lakshmi Narasimham visited four exam centres and expressed his satisfaction over the arrangements.