Examinees on Day 1 of CBSE at Mahadevi Birla World Academy on Saturday. Pictures by Gautam Bose
The CBSE Class X and XII exams began on Saturday with students appearing from 146 centres in Bengal.
Both exams commenced on Saturday with Class X students writing the English (Communicative) or English (Language and Literature) papers and Class XII examinees writing Entrepreneurship.
“There are 42,372 candidates for Class X and 47,076 candidates for the Class XII exams from 146 centres in Bengal this year. The number of students appearing on Saturday is lower than the total,” a senior CBSE official said.
The centre for CBSE examinees is another school and not their own. Some centres have students from multiple institutions writing their exams.
The Class X exams will end on March 18 and the Class XII exams on April 4.
“We have students from four schools coming to us for the exam. The first day went off well,” said Loveleen Saigal, principal, Birla High School.
The CBSE in a press release said the Class X exam was held at 7,780 centres with over 23.86 lakh students appearing while the Class XII exams were conducted at 995 centres with 23,000 students across the country on Saturday.
“CBSE had ensured that all necessary guidelines and security measures are in place to maintain the integrity of the examination process. Schools and exam centres have been briefed on strict protocols to facilitate a fair and seamless examination experience,” it said.
A webinar on essential exam guidelines was conducted on Friday. School principals in Calcutta attended it.
“Around 800 students from three schools appeared for the CBSE exam from my school,” said Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
The board has gradually been increasing competency-based questions in the exams to shift from rote learning to application-based learning.
“This has been a trend for the past few years now. We prepare our students accordingly,” said Saha.