Class X students of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) will appear for Madhyamik 2022 examination offline from March 7. The exams will continue till March 16.
Around 11 lakh students will appear for the Madhyamik 2022 examinations, according to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE), which conducts the examination. The examinees include 6,21,931 girls and 4,96,890 boys.
Students will write the First Language examination on the first day. The examination will be held from 11.45am to 3pm.
This is the first time in two years that students will be taking an offline board examination at schools across Bengal.
The Madhyamik examinations were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and students were assessed on the basis of an evaluation formula curated by the board.
Students have mostly attended online classes this academic year and many of them are anxious about appearing for the first board exam of their life. Teachers have also expressed their concern since online classes were erratic in many schools and students who missed online classes because of lack of resources have had little time to make up for the loss.
“We started offline classes in mid-November and then schools were once again closed in January. We were communicating with students over WhatsApp and through Google Meet but hardly 30 students were reachable. The students’ performance in the pre-board test reflected this learning gap. We have tried our best to prepare for the exams. Hopefully, students will do well,” said Srimayi Sanyal, English teacher, Garia Harimati Devi Uchcha Balika Vidyalaya. Many students are happy that the exams are being held offline since it gives credibility to the results.
West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Kalyanmoy Ganguly has asked schools to strictly enforce COVID-safety measures. “We will implement COVID-19 protocol strictly. Venues will be regularly sanitised and no candidate will be allowed to enter the centre without a mask,” he told PTI.