Around 7.45 lakh candidates will appear in the higher secondary exams this year and will write their papers at their respective schools. The exams will start on April 2 and continue till April 27.
This year, for the first time in the exams’ history, the students will write their papers at ‘home centres’ — their own schools — because the council did not want them to travel to another school amid the pandemic.
“This has been done so the examinees remain stress-free and write their exams in an environment they are familiar with,” Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, president of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, said.
The council conducts the school-leaving exams.
Teachers will be deployed on invigilation duty at their respective schools. The exams will be held at 6,727 centres.
“This time we have almost tripled the number of venues so the physical distancing norm can be adhered to,” said an official.
When the HS exams were last held in 2020, there were 2,300 venues.
Last year, the exams could not be held because of the pandemic.
In 22 out of 23 districts, the number of girl examinees exceed than that of boys, said the council president.
All the districts put together, the count of girl examinees is almost 71,000 higher than the boys, Bhattacharya said.
The number of girl examinees is 4.08 lakh.
Bhattacharya said the examinees need not worry about the questions on which they would be tested.
“We will consider all aspects while evaluating the scripts and will take appropriate decisions in the interest of the examinees,” he said.
Offline classes prior to the examination could hardly be held over the past two years because of the pandemic induced closure of campuses.
The state government on March 17 revised the schedule of the higher secondary exams because of the by-elections in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat and Ballygunge assembly constituency on April 12 .
The examinees after writing their first language, second language and vocational subject theory papers on April 2, 4 and 5, will write their next papers on April 16.
The window had to be created to accommodate the poll process.
