Maharashtra
Mumbai: Writing challenge for students as Maharashtra SSC Board exams return to pre-Covid norms
Mumbai: As the class 10 secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations return to the pre-Covid norms, city schools are faced with a distinct challenge: getting students to write for three hours at a stretch.
While studies like the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 have documented the decline in reading and maths levels of school-going children during the pandemic, the schools also found them to be severely lacking in writing – a key skill for the state board’s pen-and-paper subjective tests for class 10. With the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination (MSBSHSE) withdrawing all the concessions given last year, including a home centre for exams, reduced syllabus and additional time, finishing the papers on time has become a daunting task for many, said the teachers.
Less than adequate writing practice a hurdle
According to school heads, most of the students didn’t get sufficient writing practice when schools switched from physical classrooms to digital modes of teaching for almost two years since Covid broke out in March 2020. “The biggest challenge we are facing is that the students are not able to write and complete the paper on time. Their writing process has gone for a toss… Many of them get tired after writing for an hour or so,” said Sangeeta Srivastava, Principal of The Kandivli Education Society’s SVPV Vidyalaya, Kandivali. “Everyone is good at typing, but they give up when asked to write,” she added.
Anjuman-I-Islam’s Allana English High School at Fort is also grappling with this issue. “The students didn’t get much writing practice when the school was shut, as there were no notebooks to be filled,” said Rizwana Satare, Principal of the school.
New measures in place for SSC Board Exams 2023
To make matters more difficult, the state board on Saturday announced doing away with the practice of giving question papers to students 10 minutes before the exam time. “Those 10 minutes were very precious and we had taught students how to take advantage of them. But we are now calling them back to school during their preparatory leave to brief them about this new development,” said Srivastava.
The schools are taking several measures to ensure that the students are adequately trained in writing before they enter the exam halls for their first-ever board test on March 2. While most schools are conducting extensive mock tests, some held special workshops and classes to improve writing skills.
“Post-Covid our students’ writing speed has slowed down to a great extent. Hence, we organised workshops where they were assigned writing practice. We also encourage them to write as many past papers at home as possible, even if that means copying answers from textbooks. This way, they will not learn their answers, but will also improve their pace and stamina of writing,” said Sudhir Ghagas, Head Master, Padmashri Annasaheb Jadhav Vidyalaya, Bhiwandi.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run Tilak Nagar Hindi School in Chembur has carried out multiple mock tests. “Students need to practice as they have lost their habit of writing during the past 2-3 years,” said the school Principal Gulabdas Achutra.
Maharashtra
Mumbai: BMC’s helpline ‘My BMC Marg System’ launched ahead of monsoon, special focus on filling potholes

Mumbai: BMC launches special helpline to fill potholes in Mumbai With an aim to address citizens’ complaints promptly and effectively, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation has implemented an integrated complaint management system ‘MyBMC MARG’ (Complaint Management and Redressal System) this year. Through this system, citizens will be able to register 114 different types of complaints related to the Municipal Corporation through a single application and they will also be able to follow up on them. Under this, the facility of registering complaints of potholes on roads on the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system has been provided to the citizens.
Potholes sometimes form on the roads during the monsoon season. In this context, the Municipal Corporation is constantly striving to take immediate notice of the complaints received from the citizens and take necessary corrective action. Digital media is being used to make the process of registering pothole complaints easy and efficient for the citizens. Last year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had launched a separate mobile application ‘Pothole QuickFix’ for lodging complaints about potholes on roads. Through this application, citizens can lodge complaints with information, photos and location of potholes on roads. The initiative received a good response from the citizens. During this time, citizens had to use different systems for lodging complaints related to different departments of the municipal corporation. Keeping this in mind, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has launched a comprehensive system ‘MyBMC MARG’ from this year to provide more comprehensive and convenient services to the citizens. The mobile application ‘Pothole QuickFix’ has been integrated into this system. Accordingly, the facility to lodge a total of 114 types of complaints related to various departments of the municipal corporation including potholes, solid waste management, sewage issues, water supply, road maintenance, parks, public health, pest control, encroachments, lighting is available on ‘MyBMC MARG’.
The feature of the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system is that it is possible for citizens to register complaints from one platform, upload relevant images, check the current status of the complaint, track the action taken by the concerned department and get information about it after the complaint is resolved. Hence, the entire process from complaint registration to redressal has become more transparent and citizen-centric. This initiative by the Burhan Mumbai Municipal Corporation has made the complaint registration process easy, transparent and efficient and has provided a single comprehensive digital platform for citizens to follow up on their grievances. Especially when citizens register complaints of potholes on the roads, it becomes easier for the concerned department to take immediate action. This helps in expediting the pothole repair process. Android users can download the MyBMC MARG application on their smartphones using MyBMC MARG – Apps on Google Play and iPhone users can download the MyBMC MARG app – App Store. The people of Mumbai are appealing to the Municipal Corporation to register all complaints regarding potholes on the roads on the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system.
Maharashtra
Mumbai: Two accused arrested for staging a drama of jewellery theft worth over Rs 60 lakh in Andheri

Mumbai: Police have succeeded in arresting two such clever accused who had fabricated a story of theft and road accident and staged a drama of jewellery worth Rs 60 lakhs being stolen. However, during the police investigation, it was revealed that the person delivering the gold jewellery was the thief and he had committed the theft along with his friend. MIDC police had registered a case of theft on the complaint of Kanchan Pawar of Gold Star Company. According to the details, the complainant had sent his employee Avinash Gangadhar Kadam (26) to deliver the gold jewellery. At the same time, he told that his motorcycle Activa had met with an accident and during this time the gold jewellery and bag were also stolen. He pretended to be admitted to the hospital without any injury or wound. During this, the police examined several CCTV footage and it was revealed that the suspect, whose name is Manoj Hemant Jogdand (41), was patrolling here in a suspicious manner before the accident. During the investigation, the police came to know that It turned out that both of them had faked the theft and planned the robbery by describing the incident as an accident. After that, the police also took Avinash into custody. In this case, the police arrested both the accused and solved the mystery. This operation was carried out by DCP Dutta Nalawade on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Devin Bharti.
Crime
Accused in Rs 2 crore Pune embezzlement case arrested in Nashik

Nashik (Maharashtra), June 16: An absconding accused in a Rs 2 crore embezzlement case registered in Pune was arrested in Maharashtra’s Nashik on Tuesday, police said.
According to a complaint filed by Kiran Dadasaheb Shinde, 38, with Pune police, the responsibility for flat sales and related activities across four buildings (A, B, C, and D) of the ‘Ganga Fernhill’ project had been entrusted to Senior Sales Manager Simon Ronnie Peter, 42, but he allegedly, instead of depositing the proceeds from flat sales into the company’s account, transferred the funds to a fraudulent private bank account belonging to his associate, B. Chandrashekhar, thereby embezzling approximately Rs 2 crore collected from 32 customers.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered at Pune’s Kalepadal Police Station on June 9 (Crime No. 257/2026), under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
However, following the registration of the case, Peter went absconding and even switched off his mobile phone to evade arrest.
During the course of the investigation, Pune police received information that the accused was hiding in Nashik city and officials from Kalepadal Police Station contacted Senior Police Inspector Ashok Sharmale of the Gangapur Police Station and sought assistance in tracing and apprehending Peter.
Acting on credible intelligence, Sharmale learned that the accused Peter had arrived in Nashik in a car and was staying in Room No. 301 of Hotel Treebo Sapphire in Kalenagar on Gangapur Road.
Upon receiving the information, Crime Investigation Team officer Ghanshyam Bhoye and his team were immediately dispatched to the location. Acting swiftly, the police team detained the accused and subsequently handed him over to the Pune police for further legal proceedings.
The operation was successfully carried out under the leadership of Senior Police Inspector Sharmale of the Gangapur Police Station, and his team, including Assistant Sub-Inspector Tushar Deore and Police Head Constables Ravindra Mohite, Girish Mahale, Bhagwat Thavil, Ghanshyam Bhoye, Pravin Kedare, Gorakh Salunke, Sujit Jadhav, and Tulshidas Chaudhary.
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