The remaining papers of the ongoing Higher Secondary examinations will be held after April 15, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.

The papers had been scheduled on March 23, 25 and 27.

The decision to postpone the HS and Class XI examinations was taken in keeping with the precautionary measures being adopted by the state government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, education minister Partha Chatterjee said.

The examinees, however, wrote Saturday’s exams —commercial law and preliminaries of auditing, philosophy and sociology — as scheduled, a senior official of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, which conducts the Higher Secondary (HS) exams said.

The HS examinations had started on March 12 this year and were scheduled to continue till March 27. Nearly 7.9 lakh candidates are writing the test this year.

The Class XI annual examinations, which were also being held simultaneously, have also been deferred, the chief minister said. The new dates will be decided after April 15.

Question papers for the Class XI annual examinations in schools that follow the HS syllabus are set by the council, which supervises the exams. The answer scripts are, however, evaluated by teachers of the respective schools and the results also prepared by the institutions.

Minister Chatterjee said the state government is constantly monitoring the situations arising out of the coronavirus outbreak and the exams would be rescheduled accordingly. “The Higher Secondary and the Class XI annual examinations have been postponed as part of the preventive measures being taken by the state government against the spread of the disease. The rescheduling of the postponed examinations will depend on the next set of steps to be taken by the government after April 15,” he said.

The ICSE, ISC and CBSE examinations had earlier been deferred.