Patna: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) governing body on Monday gave its affiliation to 18 new diploma in elementary education colleges.

The colleges have been given the go-ahead starting their academic courses for session 2018-20. Out of the 18 that have got affiliation, four are from Patna district.

The colleges will train teachers for classes I to V.

"Once the colleges have been given affiliation they are allowed to start their academic courses from next year and during this time they have to strengthened their infrastructure," said board chairman Anand Kishor.

The new colleges have seat strength of 50 to 100 depending upon the infrastructure.

The governing board of the BSEB also gave its nod for appointment of 23 officers in the state education board.

The newly appointed officers include two academic counsellors who will help the experts in framing question papers. In the past, the BSEB has had to face public criticism for wrong questions in examinations.

In this year's entrance test for Simultala residential school, a large number of questions and answers uploaded in the school examination board's "model papers" were wrong. In the Teachers Eligibility Test examination too, many questions were wrong. The board has had to face protests from those taking the exams.

The BSEB governing board also decided to raise the honorarium amount given to experts who set questions for matriculation, Intermediate and other competitive examinations the BSEB conducts. A question paper setter will now get Rs 10,000 per day, up from the earlier Rs 3,000 per day. Similarly, the moderator will get Rs 5,000 per day, up from Rs 1,500.

The BSEB chairman said: "The board has decided to raise the honorarium amount for paper setters so that experienced and qualified teachers render their services."