The Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations will be held offline and commence from 7 March and 2 April respectively in 2022.

It will be for the first time ever that the HS exam will be conducted at the respective home centres. Both the examinations will be held once and not in two semesters as announced by the CBSE and CISCE boards. The examination pattern would remain the same as previous years for the exams. Schools in the state will reopen for students of Classes 9 to 12 from 16 November onwards.

According to the exam schedule announced at a joint press conference of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Examination (WBCHSE) today, Madhyamik will be held from 7 to 16 March and HS from 2 to 20 April.

“The Madhyamik examination will be held from 11.45 am to 3 pm. It will begin with the first language paper followed by second language (8 March), Geography (9 March), History (11 March), Life Science (12 March), Mathematics (14 March), Physical Science (15 March) and Optional Subject (16 March),” said WBBSE president Kalyanmoy Ganguly.

The timing for the HS exam will be 10 am to 1.15 pm and there will be 56 subjects. The exam dates are 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18 and 20 April. The practical examinations for the HS examinees will be held from 15 February to 4 March by the schools.

The council would announce the topics for the practical exams and the schools would conduct the assessment and evaluate the answer sheets. The WBCHSE will conduct the Class 11 annual exam in the afternoon slot (2 to 5.15pm) along with the HS exam.

The WBBSE will conduct Test assessment for the Madhyamik examinees in December-end depending on the Covid situation while the WBCHSE has left it to the schools to decide whether to conduct the Test for HS examinees or not. “We have decided to conduct the HS exam from home centres for benefiting students. The exam centres would be increased three times from 2300 in 2020 to 6723 in 2022 to maintain Covid protocols,” said WBCHSE president Chiranjb Bhattacharya.

Prof. Bhattacharya said that identifying the learning gaps of students and clearing their doubts would be the two most important tasks for teachers after schools reopen to prepare the students for the board exams, he added.