13 lakh students to take HSC exams in Maharashtra from today

The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will begin from Tuesday. It will be conducted in all eight divisions of the state board.

More than 13.3 lakh students have registered for the examination, which include 7.7 lakh boys and 5.5 lakh girls. These students are from 7,241 junior colleges. The exam will be held in 2,057 centres.

For the first time this year, the board will conduct the examination with a one or two-day gaps between two papers for each stream. The multiple choice question paper system will be followed. Around 30% of the questions based on textbooks will be different in each question paper.

Environment education is divided into two parts, one being project work and the other written exam. The project work carries 40 and the written test will be of remaining 60 marks. For passing in this compulsory subject, students must obtain minimum 14 marks in the project and 21 marks in the written exam. The marks obtained by each student are converted into grades.

As per the high court orders, students with dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia will be allowed to use calculators for subjects such as mathematics, book-keeping and accountancy. However, they will not be allowed to use calculators in cellphones.

To curb malpractices, the board has formed 245 flying squads, seven for each district. Video shooting will also be done. Similarly, parents and others have been included this time to curb malpractices during the exams.

The examination for information technology will be online and 66,018 students have registered for it. The board has set up telephone helplines to guide students on any query or difficulty they may face while writing the exam.