Mita Mukherjee
The West Bengal government on Monday cancelled the Madhyamik (Class X) and Higher Secondary (Class XII) examinations of 2021 in view of the Covid 19 situation.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the decision not to conduct the examinations was taken after examining the feedback received from students, parents and the general public.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, members of the expert-committee and state school education department officials will decide within seven days on how the evaluation of students will be done.
The chief minister said the government received over 34,000 emails between 5 pm on Sunday and 2 pm on Monday from parents, students and the general public majority of whom opined that the examinations should not be held.
“We have received over 34,000 emails in such a short period of time. Out of the total opinions received, 79 per cent were against holding the Madhyamik exams and 83 per cent said the Higher Secondary should be cancelled this year. The expert committee too has recommended that the exams should not be held this year. So we have decided not to hold the board exams this year,” Banerjee said addressing a press conference at the state secretariat today.
After receiving the report of the expert committee, the state government on Sunday evening had asked parents, students and the general public to send in their opinions on whether and how the two board exams should be held.
“ Thank you very much for sending us your valuable opinions and suggestions. GoWB thus arrives at the decision of cancelling Madhyamik/Uchhamadhyamik examinations for 2021. We will work out the best possible way to secure the future of our children,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted.
Thank you very much for sending us your valuable opinions and suggestions. GoWB thus arrives at the decision of cancelling Madhyamik/Uchhamadhyamik examinations for 2021.
We will work out the best possible way to secure the future of our children.
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 7, 2021
The chief minister said: “ We need to ensure that students don’t face any problem.”
The state government had set up a six-member expert committee to review the present situation and suggest whether it was possible to conduct the examinations in the current situation.