Mumbai: SSC results over, but now CET looms ahead

Trushnika Shinde, who has scored 100 per cent, with her family

Even as Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results were declared on Friday, many students were only able to access their results on Saturday early morning, because of the website crashing due to heavy traffic. While the satisfactory result has brought a smile on their faces, all eyes are now set on the Common Entrance Test (CET) which will determine admission to the First Year of Junior College (FYJC). The registration process is expected to start in the coming week, while the exam is most likely to be held in the third week of August.

This time around, there are 32 students from Mumbai who have perfect scores in the SSC, that is 100 per cent. One of them, Trushnika Shinde, told mid-day, "This year taught me that it is important to keep performing well throughout the year, and not just focus on the final SSC exam. I had a good academic score in Class IX too, and that really helped." Along with studies, Shinde has been busy acting in Marathi movies and TV shows. She is also pursuing Kathak Visharad training and is now focusing on preparing for CET as she wants admission to a good city college in the Arts stream.

While work has already begun for declaring the HSC results, the state board is also working on planning for CET conduction. "We are expecting to start registration for CET in the coming week. The test is likely to be held in the third week of August. However, the final schedule will be declared soon," said Dinkar Paril, Chairman of the Maharashtra State Board. Even as students with CET score are to be given preference in FYJC admissions, the test is optional and so those students who are interested to appear for it will have to register for the test. Once the registration process begins, the next course of action will be announced since this is going to be an offline test.

Speaking about the CET stress among students, Anubha Shrivastava from India Wide Parents Association, said, "Many parents are not in favour of CET, as the current situation is not really great. With good scores in SSC, we feel that there won't be many students who would opt for CET. However, the board needs to hurry, as everything has been delayed."

College peon passes with 60%

Nirmala Kakare

Nirmala Kakare went back to her studies after 20 years, and "The wait was really long, but completely worth it," she shared. Kakare, a peon at a college in the Western suburbs, has scored 60 per cent. "I left education in 2000, due to family circumstances. Now, while working as a peon in a college, professors encouraged me to get back to studies and look for better job prospects."