Madhyamik, the Class XII Bengal board exam, will be held in March 2022 and the state higher secondary exams are scheduled for April.
Madhyamik will be held from March 7 till 16 and the HS exams from April 2 till 20.
Both exams were cancelled this year because of a surge in Covid cases.
The HS council announced that the students will write their papers on their respective campuses, a first in the history of the school-leaving exams.
“This has been done to ensure examinees do not travel much amid the pandemic,” said an official of the council.
Madhyamik examinees, however, will write the test at centres allotted by the secondary education board. The number of centres will be increased so examinees can maintain a safe distance from each other.
“The board exams were last held in 2020. There were 2,839 venues. Assuming that Madhymaik would be held in 2021, we increased the number of venues several times. Next year we will increase the count further because the physical distancing norm will have to be maintained,” said Kalyanmoy Ganguli, president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, president of the HS council, said: “Students of Class XII were enrolled in 6,723 schools. So this year HS students will write the test in 6,723 venues. When the HS exams were last held in 2020, there were 2,300 venues. This meant students of two to three schools had written the test in one venue. But this year students will write the papers in their respective schools.”
Bhattacharya said the schools would be asked to conduct the practical exams from February 15 to March 4. It has been left to the schools to decide whether they will hold tests to screen students for the HS exams.
Board president Ganguly said the schools had been asked to conduct the screening test for Madhyamik towards the end of December, provided the Covid situation remains under control.