With exams nearing end, HSC students face ‘assessment’ anxiety

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[google-translator]

Mumbai: Instead of rejoicing that most exams of class 12th board are completed, the fear of assessment has pushed students into deeper despair. Students have claimed that they are being robbed of a level playing field due to the state’s decision to hold exams in offline mode while students from other education boards appeared for exams online.

After several failed attempts, including a petition in the Supreme Court, to replace offline exams with online exams, Maharashtra state board students had no choice but to appear for in-person exams after being out of practice for two years. The outcome — One too many complaints ranging from their inability to attempt the entire question paper to the difficulty level of the exam.

“Our classes were conducted online until November last year and after a brief reopening, classes were once again moved to the online mode in January 2022 due to the third wave. Even though classes were conducted in offline mode for less than seven weeks in the last two years, we had no choice but to appear for exams in person. How is it fair? Most of us were unable to prepare for theory exams because we spent the last two years preparing for online exams,” said a science student from a Mumbai college.

She added that most of her friends faced the same problem of not having enough time to prepare for theory exams, being unable to complete their 80 marks paper within the stipulated time, while others complained about the difficulty level of the examination, especially for subjects like physics, chemistry and mathematics.

Students are worried by the fact that they will now be competing for seats in professional courses against their counterparts from other central and international boards including CBSE, ICSE and IGCSE boards— a majority of which have decided to conduct exams majorly on objective-type questions this year.

“Other boards have allowed objective type questions. Besides, some state board junior colleges in rural Maharashtra have openly allowed copying and mass cheating during exams this year. Eventually, these students will score better than us, leaving us fighting for remaining seats,” said an HSC student.

HT had recently highlighted the high number of cheating cases reported in HSC and SSC exams this year, most attributed to anxiety amongst students appearing for exams for the first time in nearly two years.

Considering the requests of state board students, MSBSHSE had promised that students will be given ample time to complete their exam papers as well as time to prepare between two papers. This, say students, was not followed by the board.

“Physics, chemistry, maths and biology (PCMB) papers are always tough, and we got only a day break between these exams. I could not revise the entire syllabus in the given time and eventually ended up skipping some parts of the portion. This will reflect on my final score,” said another student.

With most HSC exams over, students are now requesting the state board to adopt leniency in the marking system. Officials have refused.

“Exams were conducted smoothly, and now assessments have started as well. The process of assessment will follow the regular method, so students need not worry. We will make sure results are announced at the earliest,” said Sharad Gosavi, chairperson of MSBSHSE.

As per a statement released by the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination (MSBSHSE) in December, HSC oral exams were scheduled between February 14 and March 3 while written papers are scheduled from March 4 to April 7.

Similarly, SSC (class 10) oral exams were conducted from February 24 to March 14 and written exams will take place between March 15 and April 18. After protests from students and parents, the state education minister for school education Varsha Gaikwad had reiterated that exams will be held in offline mode this year.

“In the last two years, our writing practice was reduced to online assignments. Subjects like psychology, history, political science as well as languages require students to write detailed responses, but most of my friends and I could not attempt more than 80-85% of the paper. Our writing speed was just not up-to-speed,” said another student, on condition of anonymity.

She added that even practical exams for science students were being conducted online throughout the academic year, and many faced problems while appearing for their practical exams in college.

In February, state board officials clarified that HSC and SSC students will appear for their upcoming exams at their respective schools and junior colleges. This decision was first introduced in 2021 to make examinations less cumbersome for students.

The 2021 board exams were however cancelled in the middle of rising Covid cases being reported across the country last year. This year, the same examination centre rule has once again been implemented to make sure students are at ease as they were already anxious about their board exam being conducted in physical mode after two years.


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