MSBSHSE fouls up, allots more students at exam centres than intake capacity

A total of 3.54 lakh students from the MSBSHSE’s Mumbai division, which includes Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, are appearing for the Class 10 exams.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, (MSBSHSE) has allocated more students than can be accommodated in the exam centres, resulting in panic among principals of many schools. The students are currently writing their Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations.

A Chembur-based school with a seating capacity of 250 students was allotted 500 students for the Class 10 examinations. The principal was finally forced to start online classes for the school’s regular students from Classes 1 to 9 and take over a primary section to accommodate all the examinees. A similar situation has been observed in many other Mumbai schools, and teachers’ unions have expressed their displeasure in this regard. (HT PHOTO)

A total of 3.54 lakh students from the MSBSHSE’s Mumbai division, which includes Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, are appearing for the Class 10 exams. The majority of students, or 1.16 lakh, are from Thane, while South Mumbai has only 30,850 students. A higher number of students than in past years have been reported at some schools in the city that are hosting examinations.

A Chembur-based school with a seating capacity of 250 students was allotted 500 students for the Class 10 examinations. The principal was finally forced to start online classes for the school’s regular students from Classes 1 to 9 and take over a primary section to accommodate all the examinees. A similar situation has been observed in many other Mumbai schools, and teachers’ unions have expressed their displeasure in this regard.

“The number of students allotted to us has increased, and we have to accommodate them all,” said the principal of the school. “MSBSHSE wanted us to accept 50 additional students even after this, but we were unable to make the necessary arrangements. But we did ensure the success of the board exams.”

Sudhir Ghagas, principal, Padmashri Annasaheb Jadhav School, Bhiwandi, said that MSBSHSE “suddenly sent 1,000 Class 10 and 533 Class 12 examinees” to his school though there was barely space for 700 to 750. “Due to this, we have converted our school auditorium into five classrooms, rented benches, and also arranged for some students to sit in a nearby BNN college,” he said. “We are also conducting alternate day school Classes 1 to 9 so that the board exams can be conducted smoothly.”

Jalindar Sarode, an office-bearer of teachers’ union Shikshak Bharti, said that MSBSHSE had allotted students this year without any discussion with schools and colleges. “Due to the chaos that ensued, many principals needed to make last-minute arrangements,” he said. “We also noticed that many unaided schools were not made examination centres this year, so the pressure on other schools increased.” The teachers’ union asked MSBSHSE about this, but got no proper reply, he added.

MSBSHSE secretary Anuradha Oak was not available for comment but another officer said, “It is possible that these schools have increased their intake in the past few years. We match the intake of schools to the number of students we assign them.”