Two days after a group of students hit the street demanding online pattern for standard 10 and 12 State board exams, the Maharashtra government on Thursday announced that the tests will be held offline as declared earlier and on the same date. Additional time for students to solve the question papers will be provided.
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) making the announcement said that standard 10 exams will be held between March 15 to April 4, 2022 for which around 16.25 lakh students will appear while the standard 12 exams will be held between March 4 to March 30, 2022 for which around 14.72 lakh students will appear.
The board however has decided to provide extra time of 30 minutes for a 70 to 100 marks paper while 15 more minutes will be given for a 40 to 60 marks paper as students may have lost practice of time-bound writing. Question paper will be given 10 minutes before the starting bell. Also, a minimum additional time of 20 minutes per hour will be provided to students with disabilities.
“The State board has made arrangements to ensure board exams are conducted in secure and student friendly manner,” said State’s School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad.
A student will be given two chances for orals or practicals if he/she falls sick and the second chance will post-written tests. The written test will be based on 75% of the total syllabus as 25% has already been cut. The students will write the exams in school/college they study in.
Since all practicals have not been conducted due to the pandemic situation, for class 12, these exams will be based on 40% of the subject-wise syllabus or the number of number finished experiments. Similar criteria will be used for standard 10.
