14.85 lakh appear for HSC in Maha
Board exams were conducted in the home centres, students did not have to visit other colleges
MUMBAI: The first exam for students of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) conducted by Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher secondary school education (MSBSHSE) started smoothly on Friday. This was the first board exam being conducted offline since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
For the first time the board exams were conducted in the home centres, students did not have to visit other colleges to appear for their exam. Students, parents, teachers and board officials found this to be one of the main reasons for a smooth first day of examination.
“The home environment that the students received this year made it very comfortable for them. Moreover, as we had declared a protocol wherein students will be given an hour to settle down and fill in their personal details in the answer sheet, it gave ample time for the faculty and students to adjust and start on time,” said Subhash Borse, Secretary of Mumbai division of MSBSHSE. As per the timeline protocol, the first bell rang at 9.50 am after which the students were allowed to enter the exam centre while adhering to Covid protocols.
A total of 14.85 lakh candidates appeared for the HSC exam from across the state. Mumbai division alone has 3.35 lakh candidates writing the exam across 1,282 centres. This includes more than 6 lakh from the Science stream and over 4 lakh each from Arts and Commerce streams.
Advait Maiti, student of Mithibai college, said, “Although we had hardly attended college, in the last few months our college staff guided us through the prelims and we gained some confidence to be able to give our first offline exam in two years. With the extra time in hand, we could manage to finish our English paper on time.” Similarly, Namita Shetty, Arts student at St
Xaviers College, said, “After appearing for our SSC board exams the pandemic was declared, although we got our admission, we had not seen the college campus until a few months back. Appearing in the same college also seems different as we hardly know our fellow classmates. Attending the first exam was hectic and giving the test was tiresome but I managed to complete it within time.”
Borse added, “We did not receive any distress calls or any permission for those who got delayed to reach the exam centres this year. On Thursday 65 children filled in the examination form at the last minute and we allotted them seats to write the exam.”