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Journalism of Courage
Amid strict vigil against copying, the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam will begin on Thursday. There are a total of 15,77,256 candidates who have registered for the Maharashtra state board examination, of which 3,54,493 are from Mumbai Division alone.
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has launched a new campaign this year – copy-free-exam – in a bid to curb malpractices. Students now have to reach their exam hall half-an-hour before the exam begins and the question papers will no longer be distributed 10 minutes before the exam starts. But students now will also have 10 additional minutes to complete the paper. The entire process of transportation of question papers from the main centre to all the exam centres, followed by their distribution, will now be recorded on mobile phones. Additionally, the person responsible for this job of transportation of question papers, which has to be done discreetly, will have to keep the GPS system on the entire time.
According to information provided by the Maharashtra State Board, the total registrations for SSC exam across Maharashtra include 8,44,116 boys and 7,33,067 girls. The exam will be held in a total of 5,033 exam centres.
In Mumbai Division, total students include 1,85,517 boys and 1,68,956 girls. Among different districts covered under the jurisdiction of Mumbai Division, the highest registration is from Thane district, at 1,16,977. This is followed by Palghar, with 61,255 candidates and West Mumbai with 61,220 candidates. This is followed by candidates from East Mumbai, Raigad and South Mumbai.
Secretary of Mumbai Division of Maharashtra State Board, Subhash Borse, said, “Students have to adhere to the regulations related to timing and keep calm. Amid strict vigil, the state board has ensured to keep the exam stress-free for students. They should only focus on completing the exam in time.”
After the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination began last week, the teaching and non-teaching staff from junior colleges have declared a boycott on exam-related work, due to which HSC paper evaluation has not started yet. “However, there is no such issue in case of SSC examination. Students and parents have no reason to worry,” said an official from the Pune headquarters of the Maharashtra state board.
The state board had already announced a number of counsellors to help students and parents during stressful times. On Wednesday, it also declared another list of numbers which will act as helplines during exam days to solve technical queries of students or parents.
