13.8 lakh to appear for HSC today

The crucial Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams that are conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) will get underway on Thursday. In all, 13,88,467 students will be appearing for the exams in the arts, science, commerce and the vocational stream across the state. With 3.1 lakh students appearing for the exam, Mumbai has the highest student count among the nine divisions of the board.

According to officials from the MSBSHSE office at Pune, the exams will be conducted at 2,581 centres across the state and will see 8,818 colleges being involved in conducting the exams that will go on till March 28.

“Mumbai has the largest number of students registered for the exam followed by Pune with 2.29 lakh students. Overall, 7,82,181 male and 6,06,286 female students will appear for the exam, including 44,430 repeater students,” said Krishna Patil, secretary, MSBSHSE. The overall student count also includes 6,191 students belonging to the handicapped category. Out of the registered students, 5,02,248 will be appearing from the science stream while 4,70,161 will appear in the arts stream, 3,55,802 in the commerce stream and 60,255 from the vocational stream.

With a view to keep the exams free of copying, the board has appointed 482 custodians with the largest concentration being 76 in Nagpur and 73 in Amravati. “The Marathwada and Vidarbha regions have been more prone to cheating and copying, hence the number of custodians is higher in these regions,” said Mr Patil. The role of the custodian includes setting up of flying squads and inspecting the exam centres to ensure that the exams go off smoothly.