Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said the government has been successfully to make exams cheating-free in the state in the last two years. He said the situation was "quite challenging" when a campaign to "cleanse the education system of its anomalies" was launched. "We received full cooperation from principals, teachers, parents, students and educational institutions in successfully making the examinations copying-free," the chief minister was quoted as saying. "Around five lakh students skipped exams after the government restrictions on the use of unfair means. During probe it was found that the sole aim of these examinees was to get admission through foul means," he added. READ | UPSC Civil Services 2019 Main Exam e-Admit Card To Release Soon Adityanath was speaking at a felicitation function of the meritorious students organised at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University in Lucknow. During the function, the Chief Minister felicitated 1,695 meritorious students of the UP Board, the CBSE and the ICSE/ ISC boards, an official statement said. The BJP leader said education should not be only for obtaining degrees, but for all-round development of an individual. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that protection of public property is our responsibility as it belongs to all of us. So if any student or teacher starts keeping the the school clean, the efforts should be appreciated," he added. "Our government ensured that instead of declaring holidays on the anniversaries of great personalities, the students should be taught about their contributions. We also ensured that all the examinations are concluded within 15 days instead of a three-month-long process," PTI quoted Adityanath. READ | UPSC CSE (Main) 2019 to begin from September 20, check details here Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma hailed the meritorious students for helping in making the exams cheating-free. "Our government has introduced the NCERT books in schools. Earlier, students had to buy costly books," he said. Minister of State for Secondary Education Gulab Devi and Principal Secretary Secondary Education Aradhana Shukla were also present on the occasion, the statement said.

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