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The board had repeatedly warned that in order to stop malpractices, latecomers will not be entertained.

At least six students in the Mumbai division were not allowed to write their English paper on the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations for reaching late. Officials from the Maharashtra state education board’s Mumbai division said that they did not allow students to enter the halls after 11.20am.

Students enter the examination centre at Sahayadri Vidya Mandir in Bhandup on Thursday. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

The board had repeatedly warned that in order to stop malpractices, latecomers will not be entertained.

However, some students still turned up late across various centres in the Mumbai division—which also includes Thane, Raigad and Palghar— for the English paper, which was scheduled between 11am and 2pm on Thursday. “We got around six calls from various centres about a few students coming in late. We asked the centres to not allow any student after 11.20am,” said Sharad Khandagale, secretary, Mumbai divisional board.

While the first paper went on smoothly, without any glitches, a few students said they found it a bit lengthy.

This year, for the first time, the board has introduced activity-based question papers for languages. “While the new format has made the paper easy, some of the passages that came today were lengthy, as a result of which, I could not complete my paper,” said Priyanka Thorat, a student of RF Naik Junior College in Kopar Khairane.

On Thursday, the board’s official helpline received more than 30 calls from students and parents for various reasons. “Some students said they were stressed while some others wanted clarity on the new paper pattern. There were a few calls about noise from the neighbouring areas disturbing students. We asked the respective centres to solve the issues,” said Murlidhar More, a counsellor at the board helpline.

The board had also deployed 25 flying squads to keep a vigil on centres.

“The squads did not find any malpractice at any of the centres,” said Khandagale.