Rupa
According to reports, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has plans to introduce a semester system in classes 11 and 12 in the next academic session.
Chiranjib Bhattacharya, the president of WBCHSE, told PTI a week ago that the Council had already submitted a drafted proposal to the government.
The draft of the new state education policy was announced immediately after the recent cabinet meeting. It recommended introducing a semester-based education system at the higher secondary level, in addition to dividing the exam into two phases.
“We have submitted a proposal to the government already. It aims at bringing the two-year exam system under the four-semester module, conducting two board exams after the third and fourth semesters and holding the third semester exam in multiple-choice question (MCQ) mode,” he said.
No change in class 9 and 10
However, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Ramanuj Ganguly told PTI that it has no plan to change the existing system to a semester-based one for classes 9 and 10.
“As things stand now, the existing system of conducting madhyamilk (secondary examination) will continue. We don’t have any intention to introduce the semester system till the tenth standard,” he said.
An “empowered committee specific to the state of West Bengal” reportedly made the draft policy that had approved the recommendation suggesting no change in the existing 4+4+2+2 structure.
As per the 4+4+2 system, a student will have to study four years in foundation, four years in preparatory stage (upper primary), two years (classes 9 and 10) in secondary. The draft policy recommended a semester-based structure for two years at the higher secondary level.
