Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal government has sought the opinion of students, parents and general public on whether and how the state Madhyamik (Class X ) and Higher Secondary (Class XII) examinations should be conducted amid the pandemic this year.

The government on June 2 had set up an expert committee to decide whether it was possible to conduct the Class X and XII board examinations this year. The panel submitted its report to the state government on Saturday.

But chief minister Mamata Banerjee wanted to know the opinion of students, parents, teachers and common people before taking the final call.

“Our children’s future is my greatest priority. To this regard, we have formed an expert committee to decide over holding the Class X and XII board exams in 2021. We are also inviting views and opinions from parents, the general public, sector experts, civil society and students,” tweeted chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

In another tweet she requested the emails be sent to the school education department or to the primary education department by 2pm on Monday.

According to sources in the state school education department the six-member committee is of the opinion that conducting the examinations in offline mode is not possible because of the pandemic and the examinations also cannot be held in online mode because of poor access to internet facilities and lack of devices among a large section of people.

Sources in the education department said the panel has suggested home assignment or an open-book examination with questions sent to students by post. After writing tests the students would again send the answers by post, the panel has suggested, the sources said.

A notice signed by Manish Jain, principal secretary to the state school education department said the public would have to mail their views to pbsm.spo@gmail.com , commissionerschooleducation@gmail.com and wbsed@gmail.com.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced on May 27 that the 2021 Higher Secondary exam would be conducted in July end and the Madhyamik would be conducted in the second week of August.

The two state boards including the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education that conducts the Madhyamik (Class X) and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education that conducts the Higher Secondary (Class XII) examinations had earlier said that the exam schedules of the X and XII board exams would be announced on June 2.

But the decision on announcing the exam schedules was deferred and the government set up the six-member committee to decide whether it was possible to conduct the two board exams amid the pandemic this time.

Also read: West Bengal sets up expert committee to decide on X and XII board exams