Pune: With an increase in the number of as many as 14, 57,293 students appearing for the examination, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education examination will begin on Tuesday. The examination will be from February 21 to March 21, 2023.
In a press conference here on Monday, State Board chairman Sharad Gosavi said, “Compared to last year nearly eight thousand more students are appearing for the examination. Among the 14,57,293 students, 7,92,780 are boys while 6,64,441 are girls. Students from 10,388 junior colleges have registered for the examination and the examination will be conducted at 3195 centres across the eight divisions”.
For the science stream 6,60,780 students have registered, for Arts 4,04,761, for commerce 3,45,532, for vocational stream 42,959 while for technical (ITI) 3,261 students have registered. Seventy-two transgender students have registered while 6,516 are handicapped students.
The IT examination will be conducted online with 162,263 students taking up the exam. This exam will be conducted at 1923 centres. Similarly, General knowledge examinations too will be conducted online and 2068 students have registered for it. This exam will be conducted at 42 centres.
Under NSQF curriculum E-3, E-6, F-6, F-8 similarly, G-1 to G-9 subjects have been included.
Students will be given extra 10 minutes after the examination. Students must reach the examination centre half an hour before the examination. Once the paper begins, students will not be allowed to give the examination. For the morning session students must reach the centre at 10.30 am for the 11 am paper while for the afternoon session they must reach 2.30 pm for the 3 pm examination.
Students are allowed to use the calculators for Mathematics, Accountancy, Physics and Chemistry papers as per the state rules. Special flying squads will be deployed to ensure no irregularities take place during the examination.
IF because of some unavoidable situations, students fail to appear for the practical examination, then they can appear after the written examination, which means from march 23 to 25.
Use of technology:
Gosavi said, “to ensure the board examination is copy free, this year examination centres will have CCTV or video shooting while opening up the question paper.
Likewise, the runner or the assistant custodian who transports the question and answer papers will have a GPS tracker”, he added.
Besides this the xerox centres in the 50 metres area of a school or junior college will remain shut during the examination period. The district collector has issued directives in that regard”, he said.
Apparently, the state board after a high-level meeting involving the education commissioner, secretary, higher police officers had called out for suggestions to make the examination copy free. Among the suggestions they received, the GPS tracker, installation of CCTV, and video shooting were chosen.
Gosavi said, “We have also issued guidelines called, ‘SHikshan Shuchi’, for the students who have been made aware of the consequences if they are involved in any irregularities during the examination. If a student is found copying or distributing the question paper, s/he will be barred from the examination forever which will ruin his/her career lifelong”.
BOX: Helpline numbers
1 Pune: 020-25536781, 7038752972, 9423042627
2 Nagpur: 0712-2565403, 2553507, 2553503
3 Aurangabad: 0240-2334228, 2334284
4 Mumbai: 022-27881075, 27893756
5 Kolhapur: 0231-2696101, 2696102, 2696103, 2690829
6 Amravati: 0721-2662647
7 Nashik: 0253-2950410, 2945241, 2945251
8 Latur: 02382-251733, 251633
9 Konkan: 02352-228480, 231250
