Summary
Move comes following the council’s decision to split the HS examinations into two semesters, to be held in November and March, from 2026
The state higher secondary council has constituted syllabus sub-committees to overhaul the syllabuses in 47 subjects.
The move comes following the council’s decision to split the HS examinations into two semesters, to be held in November and March, from 2026.
The council, as part of the existing practice, holds an annual examination which is called HS examinations, based on what is taught at Class XII. The council will split the Class XI annual exams into two semesters as well.
Those who get admitted to Class XI in 2024 are likely to write the first-semester exams in November 2024, followed by another exam in March 2025. The same pattern will be followed in Class XII.
“The teachers of schools affiliated with the CBSE board have been included in the sub-committees for some of the subjects in science,” council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya said on Saturday.
The Bengal HS syllabus was last overhauled in 2012.
As new topics have emerged in between and the council is going to implement the semester system from the batch that takes admission to Class XI in 2024, a move has been initiated to revisit the syllabi and change them accordingly.
“We intend to bifurcate the syllabus following the semester system from the batch that takes admission to Class XI in 2024. The state government has in its education policy also spoken about introducing the system. Since we have to bifurcate the syllabus, it has to be restructured to fit into the new pattern,” said Bhattacharya.
The state education policy, which was announced in early September in response to the Union government’s National Education Policy-2020, says: “Council may consider introducing semester system in Class XI and XII to ease the transition from school to university in a phased manner.”
“A combination of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and descriptive questions may be introduced in semester examinations.”
Apart from following what the policy has suggested, the council president said, the content of the syllabus needed to be made contemporary.
“For instance in commerce and economics, we teach students VAT (Value Added Tax). But GST has replaced VAT. This needs updating,” Bhattacharya said.
A council official said since the semester system has already been introduced
at the undergraduate level, the rolling out of the system at the HS level would ease the transition of students from school to university.
Bhattacharya said the recent changes introduced to the CBSE syllabus, particularly in the science subjects, help their students prepare for competitive exams such as the NEET and the national JEE after the Class XII board exams.
“Our students need to prepare separately for these competitive examinations. The CBSE has introduced new topics junking those which are obsolete. Therefore, we have sought their expertise,” said Bhattacharya.
A council official said they have plans to set MCQs in the first-semester exam that the Class XII students are likely to write in November 2025.
“So, the topic has to be set in such a manner so the MCQ questions can be set. Another exam will follow this in March 2026, where students will be assessed on short and long descriptive questions,” the official said.
Last updated on 17 Dec 2023
