Late Maharashtra board to crack the whip

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has asked exam centres to not allow latecomers to sit for the exam without the permission of the divisional board office. While exam conductors have said that this would only add to the pressure and stress that the students will undergo, the board has said that each case will be treated on merit. The board has also asked supervisors to refrain from taking mobiles to the exam hall.

The announcements were made in a meeting conducted by the Mumbai division of the MSBSHSE on Thursday wherein chief conductors of exam centres across the city were present. Division secretary S. Chandekar conducted the meeting and stressed that the rules of not allowing students to sit for the exams if they reached the centre later than 30 minutes had to be implemented strictly from the upcoming SSC exams that gets underway on March 1.

“The exam conductors need to contact the division board chairman or secretary and seek permission from them before allowing the student to take the exam. This is being done to ensure that there is no misuse of the facility being extended to the students,” said Mr Chandekar. However, when an examination conductor and a former board committee member Uday Nare from Hansraj School at Andheri pointed out that contacting the board office would cause further delay and add to the stress of the students, Mr Chandekar said that if the case was genuine the student should be given additional time to write the paper to make up for the lost time.

Mr Nare added that the board also made it mandatory on supervisors to deposit their cellphones which the chief conductor before going for supervision in the exam hall. “Supervisors have been told to go to the class without their cellphones and not keep it with them even if it is in silent mode. Secondly, the board has also allowed the exam centre to question the credentials of the flying squads and only after being satisfied, allow the squad to inspect the exam centre,” said Mr Nare, who was responsible for exposing a fraudulent squad last year. The squad consisting of some teachers from another school had gone around posing as flying squad members and only when their credentials were verified with the board office did it come to light that they were not authorised.