Maharashtra SSC Examination 2019 begins today; 59,000 students to appear for old syllabus exam

Maharashtra SSC Examination 2019 | The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board examination, which is conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) starts from Friday, with 17 lakh students appearing from state and 3.83 lakh from Mumbai. The exam will take place in 4,874 exam centres across Maharashtra, DNA reported. [caption id=“attachment_5073451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Hindustan Times reported that 25 flying squads will be checking for cheating and malpractice. The number of fresh candidates for the 2019 examination is 3,83,320 (including, compared to 2018’s 3,39,899 students). The number of candidates repeating the exam has gone down to 16,307 from 42,855 in 2018, the report said. As per a report from The Indian Express, the board has revamped the SSC syllabus and paper patterns for 2019, and has also scrapped internal examination for languages and social sciences. A total of 16,41,568 candidates will appear for the new course, whereas 59,245 will appear for the old course. The exams, that will go on till 22 March, will have activity-based questions, the report said. “With the new syllabus, students were a little anxious. The education department then decided to scrap the oral exams, adding to their stress as they will now have to attempt a 100-mark paper,” Hindustan Times quoted Sheela Pandit, a teacher from a suburban school, as saying. “As the syllabus has changed, most of them will either write the supplementary exams in July or apply for class improvement,” said Krishnakumar Patil, chairperson, Mumbai divisional board. According to The Times of India, school authorities have been prepared for the exam well before its day — from ensuring that the students’ seating numbers were allocated to the school classrooms and jotted down on the bulletin board, to rechecking and stocking up on medical and basic facilities. Some schools have also designated a few teachers and counsellors to make the atmosphere less stressful for students, the newspaper reported.