The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education will triple the number of centres for Madhyamik 2021, to be held in June, so the examinees can write the test adhering to physical distancing norms, an official of the board said.

Last year, there were 2,839 centres. This year, the number of centres could be around 7,000.

Close to 14 lakh candidates are expected to write the test and the board does not want to accommodate more than 200 examinees in one centre.

The figure of 200 has been fixed in keeping with the guidelines issued by the Union ministry of home affairs in October last year, the official said. The guidelines say: “Social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, political functions and other congregations, in closed spaces with a maximum of 50 per cent of the hall capacity with a ceiling of 200 persons will continue”.

Last year, on average 700 candidates wrote the exam in each centre.

“This year we cannot ask the candidates to sit in close proximity to each other because of the pandemic. We have to abide by the health protocols. So we have to almost triple the number of exam centres compared with last year,” the board official said.

Since the number of centres is being increased, the board is planning to requisition primary schools to set up exam venues, an official of the school education department said.

Till last year, only secondary schools were used as exam centres.

“We will decide how many exam centres are needed once the board gets to know the number of examinees,” the official said.

Camp offices were held on December 16 and 17 to distribute enrolment forms among regular and continuing candidates. “We are in the process of gathering data on the number of examinees,” said a board official.

The National Testing Agency, which had conducted the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in September for admission to the MBBS course, had increased the number of exam centres from 2,546, which was originally planned, to 3,843. The number of candidates in each room was halved — from earlier 24 to 12.

An official of the secondary education board said the exam centers would ensure staggered entry of students. The candidates will be given a set of instructions on social distancing. All candidates will be required to wear masks and carry sanitisers.

“Hand sanitisers will be made available at the entrance to the exam centres and inside exam halls at all times and the body temperature of the examinees will be checked with thermal scanners,” an official of the school education department said.

“We have yet to decide on the steps. We will ensure that all safety protocols are followed,” said Kalyanmoy Ganguly, the president of the board.