PUNE: Both state board examinations for SSC and HSC scheduled for February-March will be conducted offline.
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in a press conference on Thursday said online examinations are not possible logistically and the teaching-learning process till now has prepared the students for subjective-type more than an MCQ-type question paper.
The board’s chairman Sharad Gosavi on Thursday said, “This year, we have pushed back the board exams by at least two weeks to ensure that students get enough time to prepare. Now, HSC examinations will be held between March 4 and March 30 and the SSC examination between March 15 and April 4.
The practicals will be conducted before the exams and if a student is unable to appear for the internal assessment/ practical examinations because of unavoidable reasons, they will be given a chance after the board exam. ”
Students have been protesting against the offline exami- nations in various parts of the state this week.
This year, there will be no external examiner for the practical examinations. The respective school teachers will conduct the exams based on 40% of the practical syllabus.
The board said they will do their best to conduct exams in the same school as the student so that the students are better prepared mentally and do not have to travel during the pandemic.
Looking at the lack of writing practice among students due to online classes, they will be given 30 minutes extra time for a 70 to 100 marks exam while 15 minutes extra will be allotted for a 40-60 marks exam.
Examination centres have been increased to over 30,000 compared to 7,000 in regular times. A total of 14,72,562 stu- dents have registered for HSC exams while 16,25,311 students have registered for SSC exams.
The examination format and duration have been decided by the state government and the board in consultation with headmasters, subject teachers and experts. Last year, all the students were assessed on the basis of internal marks .
