Around 42,000 students from 425-odd schools in West Bengal are set to appear in the ICSE (Class X) exams that start on Monday.
The exams will continue till March 29. Monday’s paper is English Language – English Paper 1.
This year’s exams mark a return to the pre-pandemic schedule by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, which conducts the ICSE and ISC (Class XII) exams.
The examinees, like all other students, attended online classes for two years because of Covid. In West Bengal, the schools were allowed to reopen for in-person classes in February last year.
“The performance of the ICSE candidates in the first term of Class X was low and we had to work on them throughout the year to improve their academic standard,” said Sujoy Biswas, principal, Rammohan Mission High School.
“We have noticed in school exams that the concentration and handwriting of students have deteriorated during the pandemic. The challenge for them will be to complete the papers properly,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School Kalyani.
“To help students overcome fear we have had enhancement classes,” said Seema Sapru, principal of The Heritage School.