Over 11 lakh students will appear for hsc examinations from today under the gaze of squads

The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination conducted by the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will begin on Thursday.

As many as 11,84,226 students will appear for the examination which will end on March 21. The practical examinations were conducted between February 6 to 24 at the colleges.

"We will have police bandobast near the examination centres to avoid any untoward incidents," secretary of the board TN Supe said. For the first time, the board has requested for vigilance squads from the Pune Municipal Corporation and the district collectorate for the centres.

"The number of squads has been increased this year to curb incidents of mass copying," he said.

The divisional board's secretary Shakuntala Kale said, "Pune division comprises Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts. In all there are 183 centres where students will appear for the examination."

"We have made special arrangements for sensitive centres. Vigilance squads, education officers, officers from district collectorate and the zilla parishad's secondary education department will help us," she said.

"We have appointed 245 flying squads, seven for each of the 35 districts, to check irregularities and incidents of mass copying," said Supe.

There will be surprise visits by education officers and government officers at the examination centres. Likewise, closed circuit television cameras will also be installed at sensitive centres.

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication