NEW DELHI, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Tension among students and parents are mounting when over 1.4 million high school and senior secondary school students are due to take part in board exams on Monday.

    With 824,438 Class 10 students aged 16, and 637,578 Class 12 students aged 18, India has prepared 5,000 exam centers across the country, according to statistics provided by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) here.

    Class 10 students will decide what majors they will study after the board exam. Class 12 students will have to pass the board exam before they can apply for college studies.

    Of these, 2,228 of Class 10 students and 1,707 of Class 12 students are disabled and handicapped students, called "special category students" and will appear in 14 centers in the country and abroad.

    Officials said the number of disabled children this year is at an all-time high, almost double that of last year.

    To cobmat pressure, CBSE for the first time this year launched help lines with counselors addressing various problems of students, ranging from coping with exam pressure to methods of solving question papers.