West Bengal government today cancelled the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations in view of Covid pandemic. The decision has been taken after seeking opinion from stake holders and the expert committee.

“Majority of the public and students as well as the expert committee are not in favour of conducting the board exams. We have received 34,000 emails and 79 per cent of them are in favour of scrapping the Madhyamik exams while 83 per cent are against the Higher Secondary exams, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee while announcing the cancellation of the classes 10 and 12 board examinations at Nabanna on Monday.

Miss Banerjee said that the evaluation methods for Higher Secondary and Madhyamik students will be finalised by the two boards after consultation with experts and the state education department within seven days.

“The evaluation process has to be decided keeping the all-India exams in mind. Students should not face problem in appearing at the competitive exams or pursuing higher studies. Infact the evaluation process will be such that it would be beneficial for the students,” she said.

The state government on Sunday had sought public opinion on the issue via email. On 3 June, the state government had formed an expert committee comprising the head of the secondary board, the chief of state child rights protection panel, a doctor and academics to check the feasibility of conducting West Bengal board exams amidst the Covid pandemic.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education conducts the Madhyamik which was scheduled to be held in the second week of August as announced by Miss Banerjee and Higher Secondary exams, conducted by the West Bangal Council of Higher Secondary Education, was slated to be held in the last week of July.

Over 12 lakh students are set to appear for Madhyamik and 8.5 lakh for Higher Secondary examinations this year. Most of the state boards including both the Central boards, CISCE and CBSE, have cancelled the Class 12 exams and have decided to assess students based on the internal marks.

CBSE:

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday asked schools to conduct their pending class 12 practicals and internal assessments only in online mode, and submit marks by 28 June.