No exams for students from classes VI to IX in WBBSE schools

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) notified on Monday (December 7) that students of class VI to class IX will be promoted to the next class without appearing for any examination or evaluation this year.  

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education announced on Monday (December 7) that students of Classes VI to IX would be promoted to the next class “without appearing in any evaluation/examination this year”.

However, the board has stated that teachers must revise the syllabus of the previous class whenever the school reopens. The notification was sent to the heads of all government, government sponsored and non-government aided secondary schools, affiliated to WBBSE. Educational institutions across the state have been closed since the middle of March due to the COVID-19

The WBBSE also directed the headmasters of schools to prepare the class X students for the Madhyamik examination 2021 by conducting mock tests. The board had earlier declared that there would be no selection test for class X students this year. Online classes are being held through banglarsiksha.gov.in portal of the Education department.

Partha Karmakar, the deputy secretary (academic) of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education said, “The schools had remained closed since March. The selection tests (pre-board exam) for Class X students will not be conducted by the schools this time. But if the individual schools want they can conduct mock tests in the interest of students in order to make them ready for the board exam.”

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced on November 11 that each and every student studying in Class X and XII in the Madhyamik schools will be allowed to appear in the 2021 Madhyamik examinations.

The state government had decided to reintroduce the pass-fail system in Classes V and VIII in government-aided schools from the 2020-21 academic year. Reintroduction of detention in Classes VI and VII is due in the following year.

In August, the School Education Department had launched a toll free number 18001232823 through which teachers respond to the queries of the students directly. The toll free number is functional from 11 am to 1 pm and also from 2 pm to 4 pm.