The state higher secondary council has come out with topic-wise division of marks in each subject, factoring the reduction in the higher secondary syllabus necessitated by the Covid pandemic.

The school education department had in November announced that syllabus would be slashed by 30 to 35 per cent as on-campus classes could not be held.

An official of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education said it was crucial that topic-wise division of marks was announced so that the examinees could prepare themselves for the theory examinations that would be held from June 15 on the basis of reduced syllabus.

The topic-wise division of marks in mathematics announced on Friday states that algebra will have one multiple-choice question, two very-short-answer type questions and eight short-answer type questions.

“The portion on 3-D geometry will have two MCQs, one very-short answer type question, one short-answer type question and one long-answer question. This is how we have sorted marks topic-wise in the theory papers that carry 80 marks,” said the official.

Chemistry paper will have one MCQ in solid state and one 3-mark question.

The topic on solution will have one MCQ, one short answer-type question and one 3-mark question. This is how the distribution of marks in the theory papers that carries 70 marks have been described, the official said.

Saugata Basu, the general secretary of the Government School Teachers’ Association, said, the topic-wise distribution of marks was a must, considering that although the subjects will carry the same weightage, the syllabus has been reduced.

“So the marks distribution that continued over the past few years, will not remain the same this year because of the reduced syllabus. The students needed to get the idea,” said Basu.

Schools had remained shut since the third week of March.

A council official said since the Classes from IX to XII resumed from February 12, the students now have the time to acclimatise themselves with the question pattern during the in-person classes.

“So far the classes were being held online. But students can clear their doubts best during the in-person classes currently underway,” said a council official.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on December 10 had announced a “blueprint” that provided details on chapter/topic-wise marks distribution in each subject following the pandemic induced reduction in the syllabus.

The council in the first phase has published the marks distribution of 19 subjects.

The council offers 49 subjects and question pattern of the remaining subjects would be announced in the subsequent phases.

“Please note that, the reduced syllabus and the new question pattern will be valid for 2021 only,” reads the notice signed by the council president Mahua Das.