After scrambleforseats,examsoothesnerves
557 centres in Mumbai to accommodate 3.4 lakh Class 12 students; chaos on Day 1 as some are given new centres; a long but easy paper saves the day
MUMBAI Chaos reigned on Day 1 of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams as several students and parents scrambled to find their centres minutes before the English exam began on Tuesday.
Fifteen lakh students across Maharashtra — the highest ever in the board’s history — appeared for the first paper. Close to 3.4 lakh of them were appearing for the exam across 557 centres in the Mumbai division (includes Thane, Palghar and Raigad) — and some of these centres did not have room to accommodate all students assigned to them. In south Mumbai and the western suburbs, the centres were forced to move some of their students to nearby schools and colleges.
At Dadar’s Antonio D’silva School, seat numbers MO61016 to MO61115 were moved to the Nabar Guruji School. The school put up a sign outside its gate directing students to the new centre, a 15-minute walk away, sending hundreds of students and parents rushing there. Despite the confusion, state board helpline officials said none of the students missed the paper.
“We received a lot of calls from south Mumbai because of confusion over centres,” said one official. “Some of the centres were forced to make alternative arrangements in other schools as they didn’t have the capacity to accommodate them.”
The Anjuman-i-islam’s Dr MIJ Girls School in Bandra has a capacity of 400 students, but it was allotted 780 of them, forcing the school to shift some 100 students to the Bandra Hindu Association School 1.2km away.
“We had put up the seating arrangement and instructions in the school on Saturday itself, but many students didn’t check that in advance, and so they were surprised when they came to the centre on Tuesday,” said Saba Patel, the principal of the school.
The school, however, stationed teachers outside their centre to guide students. “Four of our teachers stood outside the school gates and directed students to their seats,” said Patel. “We even ordered extra benches in some classrooms to make room.”
Board officials said they instructed centres to make alternative arrangements in case the number of students exceeds their capacity. “We had given the centres the freedom to adjust students in nearby schools if they couldn’t fit them all,” said Siddheshwar Chandekar, divisional secretary of the board.
“The students were confused as we didn’t print the change in centres on their hall tickets. The centres, however, had displayed notices about the change before the exam began.”
Once the students entered the exam halls, things went smoothly. The three-hour-long paper had students leave their centres smiling. Students said the paper was a bit lengthy, but it was easy to solve.
“I had switched off my phone for three months because I was nervous about the exam. Although I like English, I was tense as it is difficult to score in the subject,” said Vidushi Bhalerao, a Sathaye College student.
Another student, Priyanka Chowdhury, from Tilak College in Navi Mumbai, said, “The paper was lengthy, but that was expected. I was able to complete it on time. Some of my friends missed out on the 5-and-10-mark questions.”
To ease the tension and help students reach exam centres on time, NGOS and volunteers arranged pickup and drop services in places like Goregaon. Volunteers were even ready with their cars and bikes to ferry students. They carried extra stationary items such as pencil boxes and pens, in case any student needed a spare.