Mumbai: The Mumbai divisional office of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education declared 11 schools under its jurisdiction as ‘sensitive centres’ for the upcoming SSC board exams starting Friday when students will take the first language paper.
While there is no sensitive centre enlisted in Mumbai, there are five in Palghar, four in Raigad, and two in Thane. The centres include Sacred Heart High School on Murbad Road and Takshashila Madhyamik Vidyalaya, both in Thane. The ones in Palghar include H V Patil Vidyalaya, Dyan Prabodhini Ashram School, Sevashram High School, Rajguru H M Pandit Vidyalaya, and Vidyavardhini Vidyalaya. The ones in Raigad are Sri Chhatrapati Vidyalaya, Janata High School, Kes General Arunkumar Vaidya Vidyalaya, and New English School.
Sensitive centres will be on the board’s radar, and invigilators and chief conductors will be appointed at these centres from other schools in the vicinity. The board, for the first time, issued additional vigilance measures at sensitive centres based on copying cases detected from 2018 to 2024, barring the 2021 and 2022 exams. From drone surveillance to video shooting outside the campus, from checking officials on exam duty through facial recognition to shutting down photocopy centres near exam centres, these are some of the important measures planned as part of the copy-free campaign.
A total of 3.6 lakh candidates in Mumbai will take the crucial exam, a number that is up by 19,000 compared to last year. Among those sitting for the SSC examination, 1,87,362 are male candidates, 1,71,490 female candidates, and two transgender candidates.
To ensure a smooth exam process, the board has established 1,055 exam centres across the Mumbai region. Thane district has the highest number of students appearing for the SSC exam, with 1,21,244 candidates, followed by Mumbai West with 57,469 students.
