Maharashtra board reschedules Class 12 exams after question papers get destroyed in fire

Pune: A day after question paper sets of Class 12 exams were gutted in a fire, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) on Thursday said it has rescheduled examinations for some subjects. The question paper sets of various subjects of Class 12 (HSC) Maharashtra board exams were gutted on Wednesday morning after the truck transporting them caught fire in Ahmednagar district.

The board on Thursday announced that the papers of second and third language subjects, which were scheduled to take place on March 5 and March 7, will now be held on April 5 and April 7.

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According to the board officials, Hindi, German, Japanese, Chinese and Persian language exams were scheduled on March 5, while those of Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Sindhi, Arabic, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, French, Spanish and Pali were scheduled on March 7.

"The truck that caught fire was transporting papers of exams which were to be held on March 5 and 7, and since the confidentiality of these papers has been compromised, we have decided to reschedule these exams. As per the protocol, these papers will have to be reset and reprinted for all nine divisions," MSBSHSE chairperson Sharad Gosavi said.

Exams, which were scheduled on March 5, will take place on April 5 and those scheduled on March 7, will take place on April 7, he said.

A truck carrying the question paper sets of Class 12 suddenly caught fire near Sangamner ghat in Ahmednagar district on Wednesday morning. The boxes containing question papers of various subjects were destroyed in the blaze and lay scattered on the road, a police official said.

Smoke started billowing from the truck while it was on the move. The driver and other occupants jumped out. Soon, the truck caught fire and the paper sets were gutted, he said, adding that the police and fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames. All exam papers were of the Pune division and were being transported to the city. The High Secondary Certificate (Class 12) exam of the state board is scheduled to take place from March 4.