Mumbai: Junior colleges, schools to turn into exam centres

Special measures include extra time to be given to write the paper, isolation areas for children with symptoms to complete exam. If a child misses an exam, they can retake it in June

Students of SSC and HSC will have to travel to their respective schools and junior colleges for their exams this year, as the institutes have been designated as exam centres. They will also get extra time to give the exam. Except for students of the Science stream, all other practical assessments will be based on assignments and projects, which will be submitted post the written examinations. With these and similar other special measures, the Maharashtra State Board is all set to hold offline examinations for classes X and XII, amid the pandemic.

The state school education minister, Varsha Gaikwad, on Saturday, announced the special measures to be taken for the upcoming Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations offline. This year, there will be one more chance for students to appear for exams —June. This is if any of the students fail to appear in the first exam, or if anyone falls sick, their residence falls in a containment zone, and other or similar reasons.

“For the special chance, exam centres will be limited, depending on the number of applicants,” said Gaikwad, addressing the media. Elaborating on the extra time for students, Gaikwad said, “For all 80-mark papers, which are generally for three hours, an additional 30 minutes will be given. For 50-mark papers, with a regular duration of two hours, students will be given 15 minutes extra.” Practical assessments for the Board exams, too, will have to take special measures. “For Science students as well, only few experiments will be taught and candidates will be tested on one of those,” 
explained Gaikwad.

The state education department is also making a proposal to seek an allowance for Board exam students travelling from MMR regions, so that they can travel after showing their valid hall ticket. The school education department has also approached the state government Chief Secretary to consider teaching and non-teaching staff of exam centres as frontline workers, so that they can be included in the vaccination drive. All exam centres will also have designated isolation areas on the premises, so if any student shows any symptoms during the exam, he or she can complete the remaining paper in that area. 

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