Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has made a significant decision in the best interest of 10th and 12th-grade students.
An additional 10 minutes will be allocated for both of these exams. This decision aims to prevent paper bursting and copying. If the standard time for a paper is 3 hours, it will now be extended to 3 hours and 10 minutes.
Why the extra 10 minutes?
Previously, in board exams, an extra 10 minutes were allotted before the scheduled time. For instance, if a paper was scheduled for 11:00, it would commence at 10:50. This additional time was given to familiarize students with the question paper. However, due to the alarming increase in reported cases of copying, and rumors of paper tearing, the board has decided to extend the paper time by an additional 10 minutes beyond the stipulated time, as was done last year.
Arrive half an hour early:
The board has instructed students to be present at the examination center half an hour before the scheduled time. Students will only be admitted to the examination centers after a thorough examination. Therefore, students have been advised to arrive at the center ahead of schedule.
When will the exams be held?
The dates for the 10th and 12th-grade exams, conducted by the board, were announced in November of last year. The Class XII exams will take place from February 21 to March 23, 2024, while the 10th-grade exams will be held from March 1 to March 26, 2024. These exams will be conducted by the nine Divisional Boards of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, namely Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nashik, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati, Latur, and Konkan.
When will the practical exams be held?
The 10th Practical, Category, Oral, and Internal Evaluation Examinations will be conducted from Saturday, February 10, 2024, to Thursday, February 29, 2024. Similarly, the 12th Practical, Category, Oral, and Internal Evaluation Examinations will be conducted from Friday, February 2, to Tuesday, February 20, 2024.