Board on its toes to keep SSC, HSC students apart

MUMBAI: On Monday, when SSC students were appearing for their science and technology paper, HSC students from the science stream were taking the biology test, and in most cases, at the same exam centres . This triggered rumours of a change in centres for HSC students. However, the authorities told TOI that students were either accommodated in the same centres or those nearby and were informed about it well in advance.
“The exam went off smoothly . We had informed education inspectors and centre coordinators in advance to make arrangements for students in their centres or the ones close by. Students weren't hassled at all,” said Ravindra Bhise, divisional board secretary. The arrangements were made especially so that candidates from SSC and HSC don't end up sitting together during their paper as this could contribute to copying or that of an HSC student helping an SSC student.
Rukmini Mardhanan, chief conductor at Birla College, Kalyan, said, “We had taken all precautions to ensure that the exams are conducted smoothly . Since the last three days, we were making arrangements to accommodate additional students in the IT building in our campus for Monday's exams. We worked even on Sunday to make the seating arrangements . We had to arrange for extra supervisors, too.”
Sonawane College, another centre at Kalyan, which had to accommodate additional students on Monday, took some of the classrooms from a nearby school to make up for lack of space in their college.
On Monday, 23 HSC candidates and 112 SSC candidates were caught for cheating across Maharashtra. No cases were registered in Mumbai.
Calls flood helpline
The state board helpline received a number of calls from worried students who kept enquiring about the exam centres and exam timetable even a couple of hours before the exam. “Many students enquired if the timetable had changed. Some also asked about their exam centres, in case there has been a change in the seating arrangements," said an official from the state board helpline.