Cuttack: The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) of Orissa, owing to widespread protests, gave in to the demands of students of slashing the proposed matriculation examination fees.

BSE secretary Nihar Ranjan Mohapatra announced that, "The examination fee has been slashed from Rs.228 earlier to Rs.215 now."

The BSE authorities, last moth, had proposed the hike taking it to Rs.244 from Rs.167 earlier but after the protests mounted, they had marginally cut down the fees to Rs.228 on January 4.

The protests did not seem to cease in spite of the Board giving in to the demands of the students and teachers organizations, who launched a statewide protest.

The students under the All India DSO banner had even locked the Board office on Monday and stalled the selling of examination application forms.

The protesters demand a complete roll-back of the fees and pledge to sit in a dharna in front of the Board office throughout the Monday night until their demands are met to slash it completely for the students of drought-affected districts.