Weeks after the Maharashtra state board declared results for secondary school certificate (SSC) and higher secondary certificate (HSC) supplementary exams held in November and December 2020, concerns have been raised that the delays in these exams may cost students an academic year.
Supplementary exams were held in December 2020 following delays in the process of conducting these exams during the pandemic. Many students say this has left them ineligible to apply for first-year undergraduate (UG) courses for the 2020-21 academic year, thereby defeating the purpose of conducting supplementary exams.
“Many students who passed their HSC exam in December have lost the chance to apply for admissions to any state universities for a full-time course because by the time their results were declared, admissions to UG courses had already ended,” said Tanmay Mandal, a student activist. Mandal and several students who are affected by this delay have been tagging chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray on social media posts, seeking the government’s help in the matter.
The state education department started supplementary exams in 2014 to ensure students who fail regular board exams (conducted in March) do not have to repeat an entire year. While the exams are usually conducted between July and August, this year they were delayed due to the lockdown. Eventually, they were held in November and December 2020.
{{/usCountry}}The state education department started supplementary exams in 2014 to ensure students who fail regular board exams (conducted in March) do not have to repeat an entire year. While the exams are usually conducted between July and August, this year they were delayed due to the lockdown. Eventually, they were held in November and December 2020.
{{/usCountry}}While SSC supplementary exams were conducted between November 20 and December 5, 2020, HSC exams were held between November 20 and December 10, 2020, across the state. This year, the number of students taking these exams were lower by 80% and 47% for SSC and HSC exams, respectively. Results for both exams were declared on December 23.
Students who cleared the SSC exam managed to apply in the additional admission rounds for first-year junior college seats in December last year. However, those who cleared HSC exams failed to do so because admissions to all non-professional UG first-year courses ended in October 2020 and most colleges’ schedule of exams for the new batch is over December 2020 and January this year. “Since we can’t apply to any state university, the only option most of us have now is to apply for courses in open universities. This, however, was not the option I was hoping to choose,” said Saadiq Ahmed, who passed his HSC in the supplementary exam.