HSC exams begin Feb 21: Students to get 10 minutes extra to write paper

Ketki said she is more nervous about the little things than her son, Samihan Petkar, a student of BMCC. Samihan said, “I have studied throughout the year, so I am confident to face the papers.”

Another student Kashmira Chonde, 17, from Sarhad College of Arts, Science and Commerce said she is quite nervous.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education is all set to conduct the Class 12 exams from February 21 to March 19 in offline mode.

The morning shift will commence at 11 am and will conclude at 2.10 pm while the evening shift exams will be conducted from 3 pm to 5.10 pm.

This year, 15,13,909 students will appear for the exams held across nine divisional boards. The number of examinees was 14,57,293 in 2023.

“Earlier there were some incidents where schools had withheld students from appearing for the board examinations due to non-payment of fees. Such action by schools is prohibited and we have addressed this seriously,” Sharad Gosavi, chairman of the state board of education, said.

The only legitimate reason to withhold a student from appearing for examinations is serious lack of attendance, he pointed out. “Ideally there should be 75 per cent attendance in both terms but if due to some reasons the student has been unable to meet this requirement, it can be relaxed to 50 per cent by the board,” he said.

This year, even as everything stays the same, there is a slight change in one rule. Earlier students appearing for the HSC exams were provided 10 minutes extra time to read the question paper. But from now on, students will get an extra 10 minutes at the end of the exam to complete the question paper.

Samihan said, “Students feel it’s better to have 10 minutes extra at the end of the paper, as they need time to complete the paper.”