HSC exams start today: 3.3 lakh students from Mumbai division sit for papers

State board officials declared a flurry of changes on Tuesday to tighten the exam procedure this year

More than 14 lakh students across Maharashtra will appear for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations this year, which starts Wednesday morning.Of this, 3.3 lakh students will appear from the Mumbai division, which has in 583 centres.

Students sit for HSC exams at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel School in Dahisar on Wednesday morning. (Pramod Thakur)

Officials of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) on Tuesday declared a flurry of changes to tighten the exam procedure this year. These are in addition to measures the board has taken to prevent unfair activities during the Class 12 exams.

Students check their exam rooms at a centre in Thane on Wednesday morning. (Praful Gangurde)

With 14,85,132 lakh students appearing for the exam across the state, the board has decided to introduce special answer sheets with bar code printed on them. The bar codes will be printed on the answer sheets and the supplementary sheets for transparency.

“For the first time, we have printed hall tickets in both English and Hindi. Earlier, the details used to be in English only,” said Shakuntala Kale, chairperson of MSBSHSE.

She said this year, exams for IT and general knowledge will be held online. Kale said: “Apart from CCTV surveillance, 252 flying squads across Maharashtra will make surprise visits.”

Keeping in mind the new seating arrangement, where only 25 students will be allowed per block, the Mumbai division has added more centres. “We realised some centres could not make arrangements, so new centres were added,” said Subhash Borse, secretary in charge of the state board’s Mumbai division.

(With inputs from Shreya Bhandary)