At least 173 cases of copying or resorting to malpractices were detected on the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exam on Thursday. According to officials of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), that conducted the HSC exams, the number includes students as well as exam supervisors, who abetted copying and unfair practices and were detected by the flying squads appointed by the board. Sharing details of the reported cases in the nine divisions, Krishna Patil, secretary, MSBSHSE, said that the board’s initiative to warn students and exam conductors had borne fruit as most divisions reported a negligible number of copy ing cases. “The highest number of incidents were reported in the Nagpur division with 78 cases and Nashik was second with 43 cases. Out of the remaining divisions, Pune reported 19 and Aurangabad had 18 cases. Amravati had eight cases and Mumbai had five. Kolhapur had two cases and Latur and Konkan had no cases,” said Mr Patil. The board has constituted 284 flying squads and has also enrolled the help of the collector’s office, as well as, the local police to keep an eye on malpractices during the exams. Meanwhile, despite it being the second day of the Bharat bandh, students managed to reach their exam centres on time. According to Sarjerao Jadhav, chairman, MSBSHSE, none of the divisions reported any latecomers, but the board had issued orders to all exam centres to accommodate the students if they were late. “As the transport facilities were working as per schedule, the students were not inconvenienced,” said Mr Jadhav, based on the general reports submitted by the control units of each division. He, however, added that though the order asked centres to allow students who came late by 30 minutes, they were also asked to allow students to appear for the exam even if they arrived late by another 5-10 minutes.
