Kolkata, Sep 8 (IANS) The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) on Monday successfully held the state’s first-ever semester-format Class 12 examinations, with the process passing off without a hitch as no leak of question paper was reported from the districts, which used to be the case for a few years.
Students were seen leaving the examination centres with smiles on their faces.
The first-semester exams, scheduled from September 8 to 22, will be held across 2,106 venues in 23 districts, with 6.6 lakh candidates enrolled.
This is the first time the Higher Secondary exams are being conducted in two phases — September and February — under the newly adopted semester system for Classes 11 and 12.
On the first day, WBCHSE President Chiranjib Bhattacharjee faced protests from a section of parents who alleged that the students received the school books three months after the start of the classes. However, the students said that they did not face any problem in getting the books later.
Bhattacharjee later told media persons that the textbooks for the final semester are already available in the market. “There was a little problem with the books that were given free of cost at first. But we uploaded them to the official portal. All the books that have been released for the fourth semester are available,” he said.
On Monday, exams were held from 10 a.m. to 11.15 a.m., while papers for music, visual arts, and vocational subjects ran until 11.45 a.m. Candidates are barred from carrying calculators, mobile phones, or any electronic devices into exam halls, with any violation set to lead to the cancellation of their candidature. Students also underwent metal-detector checks at entry points.
During the 1 hour 15 minute test, candidates were not allowed to visit the washroom.
To prevent paper leaks, the WBCHSE has introduced sealed ‘non-transparent printed poly pouches’ for question paper packets. Two sets of question papers — Set 1 and Set 2 — have been prepared. The second set will only be used in emergencies, such as a paper leak.
In light of the rainy season, exam papers and OMR sheets are being stored in facilities with no history of waterlogging. Authorities have also reserved the option of shifting exam centres in case of emergencies.
Of the total examinees, the number of female students is higher across 23 districts. There are 818 main examination centres. Among the 342 specially-abled candidates, 212 will write exams with the help of scribes.
The first-semester exams are entirely multiple-choice based. To prevent malpractices, multiple question sets will be distributed within exam halls, following the model of competitive exams like NEET-UG and JEE, ensuring that adjacent candidates do not receive identical papers.
The WBCHSE had officially announced the adoption of the semester system in April this year, marking a historic shift in the state’s school education structure.
–IANS
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