HSC exam: Latecomers' mobile phones checked for hints of paper leak

A student arrives late for the exam at Ruia College. Six such students were allowed last minute entry. Pics/Ashish Raje

After its exams were marred by several cases of question paper leaks in the past two years, the Mumbai division of the Maharashtra State Board has decided to be very strict regarding mobile phones in the Higher Secondary Examination which began yesterday. Not only are students being asked to switch off their mobile phones and to keep them in their bags outside the exam hall, the phones of students who reach late are being thoroughly checked by invigilators for a hint of paper leak, before they too are asked to switch them off.

While this year no exam centre head had the authority to allow a student entry to the exam-hall if he/she was later than 10 minutes; overall no student who came later than 20 minutes was allowed to appear for the paper. The exam began at 11 am, and students who reached the centre till 11.10 am were allowed entry by the centre heads after making a detailed note about his/her identification and receiving an explanation for the delay. If a student arrived between 11.10 am and 11.20 am, the centre head had to take permission from the secretary of the board to allow him/her in the examination hall. While six such students were allowed last minute entry, there were in total nine students who were denied entry.

A student gives his mobile phone to Subhash Tetgure, a sandwich stall operator, opposite Ruia College for safe-keeping yesterday. Mobile phones were not allowed in the exam centers.

"Those cannot be genuine students. No sincere student is so casual about an important examination in life. Moreover, they had only traffic and delayed trains to blame, which is completely unacceptable when lakhs of other students are making efforts to reach before time. These were the students who reached after 11.30 am when the paper had begun at 11 am," said Subhash Borse, Secretary of the Maharashtra State Board Mumbai division.

Despite the strict approach, the Mumbai division allowed last minute registration to a total of 27 students, of which one was given approval on Wednesday morning. "There are some students whose applications to appear for the board examination were pending due to certain technical issues. Most of them are private students who generally have trouble in eligibility approval. On Tuesday 26 such candidates were given approval. A boy from Nalasopara was registered on Wednesday morning and immediate arrangement was made for him to appear for the examination in a nearby centre in Vashi," said Borse.