Students heave sigh of relief after Maharashtra HSC result; teachers applaud them for their courage amid pandemic

Ishaan Jain from PACE Junior college in Dadar (right) Aarya Joshi of Thakur Vidya in Kandivli

Anxiety reigned supreme during this year's HSC board exams, as students feared both the COVID-19 and the offline test after two years of virtual schooling. Some said they were denied a level playing field because of the government's decision to hold the state board exams offline, while students from other boards wrote their papers online.

The fear followed multiple failed attempts to go online, including a Supreme Court case. After being out of practice for two years, HSC students in the state wrote exams in-person this year. Consequences: Too many complaints and concerns were raised, including being unable to finish the entire paper in the given frame time and the exam's level of difficulty.

Talking about his fears and doubts pertaining to the HSC exam and the result, Ishaan Jain from PACE Junior college in Dadar said, "I was definitely nervous about writing the exams in-person. The last offline exam I wrote was in Std X. The shift to offline exams after two years of both virtual classes and tests was difficult for us physically as well emotionally. Although, our teachers were very supportive and did everything they could to help us. Until the last day, I kept wishing for the exams to be held online." Jain, who scored 96.77%, "expected to score better, since my exams went very well."

Aarya Joshi of Thakur Vidya Mandir High School & Junior College in Kandivli said, "These were the very stressful two years for me; first the pandemic and then the offline exams. The biggest challenge that I faced in 2020 was when I switched from ICSE to state board. It took me time to understand the pattern. And all this change happened during the virtual schooling, so I was hoping for online exams this year too. Now that the board exams are over, I can't express how relieved I am." Aarya scored 96.67% in her HSC exams.

Krutika Desai, principal of Mithibai junior college, said, "Whether the results are good or bad, I don't believe in such things. What I believe is despite all sorts of challenges that the students faced, they appeared for the exam and fared well. The past two years have been very tough for all, particularly the students. While degree college students created a ruckus over offline exams, these junior college students, despite being resistant about it, followed all the protocols and wrote their papers. We, at Mithibai, conducted offline prelims for HSC, which was attended by 70 per cent of the students. This was an exercise to prepare our students mentally, physically and emotionally for offline board exams."

"Std XII students this year faced a different kind of stress; they battled the pandemic and got education online for the first time ever. Studying and preparing for the offline exam, wherein they had to sit in the examination hall for three hours straight was not easy for them. This batch of students had a lot of anxiety and stress issues," said Farhana Ashraf, English lecturer at Thakur Vidya school.