The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education is a statutory and autonomous body established under the "Maharashtra Secondary Boards Act" 1965 (amended in 1977). Most important task of the board, among few others, is to conduct the SSC for 10th class and HSC for 12th class examinations. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, conducts the HSC and SSC Examinations in the state of Maharashtra through its nine Divisional Boards located at Pune, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nasik, Kolhapur, Amravati, Latur, Nagpur and Ratnagiri. The Board conducts examination twice a year and the number of students appearing for the main examination is around 14 Lacs for HSC and 17 Lac’s SSC, for the supplementary examination around 6 Lacs students are expected HSC and SSC together. There are about 21000 schools (SSC) and 7000 (HSC) Higher Sec. Schools / Jr. colleges in the entire state.
The main duty of state Board is to advice the state Government in policy matters regarding secondary and Higher Secondary Education.It is the most popular education board in terms of enrollment in high school in India only after the CBSE .It has been ranked 4th in the 'Futuristic Education Boards in India' among more than 35 educational boards in the country.