‘Hindi paper was simpler than expected’

Students were visibly pleased as they came bounding out of their examination centres on Thursday after their first SSC exam. Non-English medium students appeared for one of several first language exams including Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Hindi among others.

Students were visibly pleased as they came bounding out of their examination centres on Thursday after their first SSC exam. Non-English medium students appeared for one of several first language exams including Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Hindi among others.

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“Hindi paper was good. It was simpler than I expected. I was nervous about my exam centre being in a different school but there was no problem,” said Manju Rajuvahni, a student of Colaba Secondary High School.

Other students also agreed that the paper had been straightforward. “It was a good paper. And now with the Best Five policy in place we are feeling more relaxed,” said Omkar Sotekar, a student of Waghe High School in Colaba.

Nothing unusual was reported from any of the exam centres though the question papers arrived slightly late at two centres in Kurla. “There was no problem. The students were given time to finish writing,” said V.S. Mhatre, Mumbai division secretary of the SSC board.

A few of the centres for the HSC and SSC exams are common, so students appear for the exam together. “There were only around three or four common centres today, though tomorrow there will be a few more,” said Mhatre.

This proved to be a minor problem at one such common centre as HSC students finished their two-hour Physics paper before the SSC students finished the three-hour language paper.

“It would be better if the HSC and SSC students weren’t crowded together in the same room. It is a little distracting when one bunch of students finishes before the other and the ones who have just finished start talking,” said N.S. Bikkad, principal of Social Service League High School and Junior College at Elphinstone Road.