Meghalaya opens SSLC registration for private candidates till June 30

Shillong, May 20: The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) has opened registration for private candidates seeking to appear in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination, with the last date for registration fixed as June 30.

In a notification issued on Wednesday, the Board said eligible candidates can approach their nearest notified SSLC examination centres for registration and further details. Only designated SSLC examination centres have been authorised to register private candidates.

According to the notification, the provision is meant for candidates who discontinued regular schooling due to genuine hardship, exhausted all permissible examination attempts up to 2025, or are pursuing professional sports, games, or art forms.

MBOSE said applicants must be domiciles of Meghalaya and can submit documents such as Aadhaar card, voter ID, ration card, birth certificate, caste certificate, MHIS card, or MGNREGS job card as proof of domicile.

The Board clarified that there will be no upper age limit for admission as a private candidate, but applicants must have attained at least 15 years of age on or before December 31 of the examination year.

MBOSE has also introduced a “cooling-off period” for school dropouts. Students who discontinued studies before completing Class X will become eligible only after a waiting period calculated as “10 years minus the last class studied.”

The notification added that examination centres should place greater emphasis on assessing a candidate’s academic preparedness and competency instead of relying solely on documentary proof of the last class studied, especially in cases involving home-schooled learners, sportspersons, and non-traditional learners.

MBOSE said the cooling-off period was introduced to discourage students from prematurely leaving regular schooling solely to appear as private candidates.