SSC examination centres not yet ready

While securing a good exam centre is one of the biggest concerns of the parents and students who sitting for the state board exams, less than a month away; the education department has not yet conducted checks on all the 305 exam centres and sub-centres in the city.

Year after year, there have been numerous instances of students having to make do with noisy, dingy and dilapidated structures as their exam centres.

Even this year, the education department has not yet checked out all the schools before turning them into centres. Ravindra Bhise, secretary of the Mumbai division of the state board said, “The board officials rely on zonal school inspectors for inspecting the infrastructure, staff and other arrangements of the exam centres. But this year we have not inspected the old centres, only new ones.”

However, PR Pawar, western zonal officer, said that they cannot afford to conduct inspections for every school because of lack of manpower.

“We do not conduct any inspections prior to the board exams, specifically for the board exams, only our regular inspections that are conducted all year round,” he said.

On the other hand, parents and students set a great score by exam centres. An examination centre is one of the most important factors for students writing the ‘make or break’ board exams. Kriti Shah, student from St Jospeh School, is more worried about her centre than her performance. “I am worried that there will be no fans or toilets. In this scorching heat, any discomfort will affect my performance,” she said.