The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) aka class X and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) aka class XII board exams for academic year 2022-23 will be held between February and March 2023.
The Pune-based Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) released the tentative time table on Monday (September 19). While the class XII board exams will be conducted from February 21 to March 20, 2023, the class X board exams will begin March 2 and continue till March 25, 2023.
While the board will be issuing a final time table later which will be distributed to schools and junior colleges, the current date sheet is just to inform in advance. A circular issued by the board on its website, https://www.mahahsscboard.in/ states, “This tentative timetable or the exam dates has been declared to help schools and junior colleges to prepare their academic activities accordingly to not only complete the syllabus but also help students prepare for the board exam.”
Board exams patterns have been altered during the past two years due the COVID pandemic. During the academic year 2020-21, board exams had to be cancelled altogether due to the COVID pandemic induced school and college closures. In the absence of exams, students were evaluated on the basis of their internal project submissions leading to the highest ever state board pass percentage at 99.95 percent.
In 2021-22, several parts of the state witnessed protests as students’ demanded offline exams be cancelled and students be evaluated according to their internals. However, the state remained adamant to normalise the examination process and the 2021-22 academic year board exams were held offline in March-April 2022.
However, a few alterations were introduced. In view of the continued travel restrictions post the second wave of COVID, both class X as well as class XII students were allowed to write their papers in their own schools instead of having to travel to examination centres allotted by the board. Making up for the lack of writing practice in the absence of regular classroom teaching classes with only online teaching taking place, the overall syllabus was reduced by 25 percent. Students were also given 30 minutes extra to write 80 marks papers and 15 minutes extra to write short 40 marks papers.
“Students need to keep in mind that the upcoming exams in 2022-23 would follow the pre-COVID exam pattern. Students will not enjoy the benefit of being given extra time to complete their papers or write the paper one’s own school as their examination centre. Students will have to study the entire syllabus for the exam and must start preparing for the exams now that they have a tentative time table in hand,” says Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson, Principal’s Association, Maharashtra.
Also Read: Maharashtra HSC 2022 results: Pass percentage stands at 94.22%