Mumbai SSC board schools and HSC board colleges will start with their preliminary exams for grade 10th and 12th students in the coming week. SSC and HSC board exams will begin in March and go on till April.
Because their board exams are conducted in an offline mode, the BMC department has already issued a notice allowing 10th and 12th-grade students to attend in-person classes.
The board exams for class 10th is scheduled between March 15 and April 18. Class 12th, on the other hand, will take place from March 4 to April 7.
Preliminary tests, which will begin in the next week for several schools and colleges, are preparing students for the board examination at the same time waiting for consent from parents to allow children to attend the offline preliminary exam. "We are currently planning on conducting the second prelim exams of SSC Board offline, for class 10th & 12th. The exams will start on 15th January 2022. However, regular classes for students of class 1 to 9 and class 11 would move to online mode with immediate effect as per the recent direction of the BMC. We have not received apprehension from parents on hosting offline examinations. If there are any further instructions given by the authorities in this regard we will accordingly take the appropriate steps," said Mrs Mamta Bhatt, Head Mistress, St. Francis High School, SSC, Vasai.
"Starting on January 12, we will have our preliminary examination. We will take all necessary precautions to protect the students, and only one student will be permitted to sit on each bench. If any of the students test positive, there is an online preliminary exam option for them to take, after which they must submit a paper. Online tests are frequently not taken seriously by students. There is a requirement for an offline examination," said Sitalakshmi Konar, Mumbai's Adarsh Vidyalaya Principal
If the situation demands, schools are also prepared to offer online prelims. On the other hand, teachers are concerned that students should take online exams seriously. Mrs Tejashri Jamnekar, a teacher at Mumbai's Kidland English School, said, "For the time being, our school has only arranged offline preliminary exams for students in class 10. We've also kept the option to take the exam online in case the scenario changes. We can move to online examinations and allow them to submit all of their papers at once after the exams are over, but we're all just hoping they'll take it seriously."
According to Neepa Maisheri, the owner of a coaching institute, "Students should not be anxious about the final board exam, thus an offline preliminary exam is required for them now. They should have the opportunity to sit for a three-hour offline exam. They should be prepared for any eventuality."
Students have a similar view on conducting preliminary exams offline. There are a few schools that will wait and decide on the mode of the prelim exam soon. On the other hand, students have started their preparation for both the mode of examination. A student from South Indian Association High School, Palak Maru said, "Our school has given us both the options of the online and offline preliminary exam. As for now, I am worried about omicron cases that are rising now, but want offline prelims only because it will be a practice for us."
Unnati Bheda from K.J Somaiya College said, "Our college has already decided to conduct prelim exams online. We will have to submit the papers once all the examination is done."
