2,16,848 students appear for SSC exam in Mumbai division

On day one of the SSC exam on Monday, over 2.16 lakh students appeared for the first language papers—Hindi, Marathi and Urdu—in the Mumbai division.

The day also saw two students in the Mumbai division appearing for the exam with additional seat numbers provided by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). One of them is from BS Jhondle School, Mumbra and other from Ashokdada Sable Vidyalaya, Mangaon (Raigad).

"Vivek Jadhav, a repeater from our school, did not received his hall ticket, so we informed the board and allowed him to sit for the Marathi exam," said DS Ubhare, chief conductor at Mangaon centre.

At the same centre, one Aniket Salunkhe was found without a hall ticket, but he figured in the seating arrangement. So, he was allowed to take the exam. "The board has been informed and he'll get the hall ticket on Tuesday," said Ubhare.

In National High School, Bhayandar a student faced a problem as her hall ticket had not been collected. "She was provided an additional seat number and allowed to appear for the exam. The school authorities have now collected her hall ticket," said a board official in-charge of issuing additional seat numbers.

Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri had two students coming there by mistake. "They had actually been allotted the nearby AH Wadia High School. "One of them had come early and we made arrangements to take him to the correct centre. The other came just five minutes before the exam began, so we used an emergency barcode and allowed him to write," said Anjana Prakash, the school principal.

Heads of schools in the city were a relieved lot as there were no students at their centre without a hall ticket. "We were ready with extra blocks and emergency barcodes to accommodate additional students.

However, it was a great relief when we realised that there were no such cases," said Vilas Parab, principal, Balmohan Vidyamandir, Dadar.

In the past few days, the Mumbai division has been working overtime to provide hall tickets to several thousand students who had not received them through the normal process after the Delhi-based firm, CS Datamation Pvt Ltd, lost part of the data.

38 cases of cheating across state
The exams in the Mumbai division had a clean start on Monday as no cases of cheating were reported during both the sessions. However, it was not the case overall, as 38 cases of cheating were reported across the state.

Confusion over old and new courses
Just like the confusion that prevailed during the HSC exam, the board received calls from several students and centres about repeater candidates complaining that they had prepared for the new course but were given question papers for the old course. "Repeater candidates have to appear for the old course. We had issued a circular in this regard in the beginning of the year. So we have informed the centres to give them question papers of the old course," said Laxmikant Pande, chairperson of the Mumbai division.

10 write French exam
Students who appeared for the language exams on Monday in the Mumbai division, which also includes Raigad and Thane district: 2,16,848.

Of these, only 10 students appeared for the French exam, which was the only exam scheduled in the second half.