Lucknow, Feb 8 (IANS): More than five lakh students left the ongoing UP Board exams for Class X and XII midway in the first two days due to a massive crackdown on cheating, an official said on Thursday.

This is seen as an outcome of the tight screening and anti-copying measures implemented by the government which had vowed to ensure there was no copying this year.

Officials in the Secondary Education Department told IANS that the strictness had led to students aborting the exams midway including in subjects like Hindi and home science.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who is in charge of education, told IANS that the government was committed to ensuring merit in the education system and at no cost will copying be allowed.

"We will not allow anyone to copy, cheat and usurp the right of meritorious students," he added.

Sharma is using the state government chopper to make surprise inspections at various examination centres to ensure that the government order is being implemented.

CCTVs been installed in all examination centres and the special task force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police is being used to help conduct free and fair exams.

UP Board authorities told IANS that on the first day 69,201 students left the Class X exams while a whopping 220,107 aborted the Class XII exams after appearing for it.

More than 66.37 lakh students had enrolled for the Class X and XII examinations this year.