Students with special needs to get priority

Around 1,877 students with various physical, psychological or emotional special needs, have registered for the Class XII board examinations this year. Students claimed, this new measure has given them a special privilege apart from the usual assistance provided by the state board

For the first time, students with special needs, appearing for the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) board examinations have got answer sheets with Divyang Stickers on it. This is expected to help speed the assessment process, since examiners can now easily identify these answer papers and treat them on priority.

Around 1,877 students with various physical, psychological or emotional special needs, have registered for the Class XII board examinations this year. Students claimed, this new measure has given them a special privilege apart from the usual assistance provided by the state board. Students with special needs can generally use assistance like using writers, appearing from hospitals or even seeking extra time to complete the examination depending on the situation and need.

These students have welcomed the progressive step taken by the state board even in correcting papers. Mayank Jain, a student with physical challenges, said, “We often seek extra time to complete the examination due to our physical condition. I am glad to hear that the board wants to treat our answer scripts with priority in the evaluation process. This will help examiners to realise that a particular answer paper belongs to a student with some special needs and this means they can be patient or more focussed in the assessment.”

Authorities of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) claimed they want to improve the examination system through new measures. A senior official of MSBSHSE, Mumbai division, said, “When examiners are assessing answer papers they tend to move at a certain pace, which is not the same when orrecting the answer scripts of students with special needs. This requires a bit of additional patience and understanding when assessing them. We initiated this measure after detailed discussions and suggestions from teachers.”

The English language paper was conducted at 592 examination centres of the city on Thursday. The examination will continue till March 20.