21,000 Maharashtra Students Face HSC Form Submission Crisis

In Maharashtra, a significant issue has emerged as over 21,000 students are unable to submit their Class XII board exam forms due to their names being absent from the official system. The deadline for completing this process is set for October 31, intensifying the urgency for a resolution.

The problem stems from the fact that these students were admitted to Class XI through offline methods, which are not sanctioned in the state. According to Mahesh Palkar, the director of secondary education, a meeting was convened with government and education department officials to address the situation, and a favorable decision for the affected students is anticipated soon.

Officials from the education department have indicated that the discrepancies arose because the online admission system, which is mandatory, was bypassed. This system allows schools to access students' permanent registration numbers from the UDISE+ portal, a feature not available for offline admissions. Palkar emphasized that deputy directors in each division have been instructed to take necessary actions against schools that permitted these offline admissions. "These schools are aware that offline admissions for Std XI are prohibited, yet they proceeded to admit around 21,000 students in this manner," he stated.

Dada Bhuse, the school education minister, confirmed that an inquiry will be launched into the matter, and appropriate actions will be taken against institutions that have violated the rules. An official noted that approximately 4,000 of the affected students are from the Pune division, which includes Pune, Ahilyanagar, and Solapur. In about 120 colleges, these students were found not to have been admitted through the centralized online process, leading to their inability to fill out their Std XII exam forms.

As the deadline approaches, the Pune division has issued notices to the offending schools, imposing a fine of Rs 3,000 per student. However, a directive from the secondary education department suggests that the penalty should be increased to Rs 5,000 per student. According to the state board's notification, the Std XII exam forms have been available since August 14, 2026, with the regular fee applicable until October 31. After this date, students can still submit their forms with a late fee until November 15, and further penalties will apply for submissions made between November 16 and November 30.