– Mita Mukherjee

Each and every student studying in Classes X and XII in government aided schools in West Bengal affiliated with the state controlled secondary and higher secondary boards will be allowed to appear in the 2021 Madhyamik (Class X) and Higher Secondary (XII) examinations, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday.

The internal selection tests that are conducted by the individual schools for screening the  students before allowing them to appear in the Class X and XII board examinations will not be held in the schools this time, the chief minister announced.

“All students who are studying in Class X and XII in the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools will be allowed to appear in the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations next year. No selection tests will be held this time.  The schools were closed this year so we have taken this decision in the interest of the students,” Mamata Banerjee said.

More than 11 lakh students are expected to write the Madhyamik next year. Close to 9 lakh students studying in Class XII will appear in the 2021  Higher Secondary examinations.   

The selection tests are generally held in the schools between December and January. The Madhyamik examinations are held in February end and the Higher Secondary in mid-March.

Nearly 7400 persons have died of Covid-19 in Bengal till date and the number of people getting infected has remained high since last few weeks.

The government has still not finalized its decision on reopening of schools in the state.

The chief minister had recently said that the government will announce in December when the schools in Bengal would reopen. .  

Heads of several schools said the schools were not in a position to conduct the selection tests considering the Covid -19 situation. This has prompted the state government not to conduct the selection tests and allow all students to write the board examinations next year.

Also read: West Bengal education boards contemplating X and XII syllabus reduction