Bhubaneswar, Sept. 7: The Council of Higher Secondary Education, which today celebrated its 33rd foundation day, has a host of new initiatives lined up for the 2016-17 academic session.

Higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahi briefed about the department's plans to separate Plus Two courses from the degree ones, which had been kept in abeyance due to large-scale vacancies and inadequate infrastructure in the state-run colleges. "It will materialise next year," Panigrahi said.

"The department has purposefully decided to delay the separation because of vacancies and lack of proper set-up. However, we have now decided to go ahead with the plan. We will ensure proper infrastructure and staff members," Panigrahi said.

The council will also include more subjects for the e-evaluation from next year. "We would include more subjects under e-evaluation such as English and Modern Indian Language," he said.

The new syllabus on the lines of the CBSE is also in progress and will be over by the end of this session. "We had plans to introduce the syllabus this year, but it was postponed due to procedural delays. Hopefully, it will be ready by the end of this academic year, and the students can have a new syllabus in the 2016-17," said Panigrahi.

A high-level panel had recommended changes in the CHSE syllabus so that students fare better in various competitive and national-level entrance exams.

"The executive committee is focusing on changing the syllabus to make it easier for students appearing for competitive exams . It will also help students who are applying for banking and other competitive exams," said council chairman Basudev Chhattoi.