Kolkata, July 30: From 2012, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education will conduct the Madhyamik examination based only on the Class X syllabus. This will mark a departure from the present practice where students have to prepare the syllabi of both Class IX and X while appearing for the Madhyamik examination.
The state government had issued an order on June 16 to bifurcate the syllabus. It had also asked the Board to follow January-December academic session. The decision will bring relief to over one million students studying in about 10,000 secondary schools.
According to board officials, the syllabus till 2012 will have to be reworked. They also pointed out that the students who will be appearing for Class X examination with modified syllabus should not panic as they will have enough time to get accustomed to it.
Various teachers’ organisations have, however, objected to the Board’s decision to bifurcate the syllabus. “The only objective of the Board is to increase the number of students passing the examination without any concern for the quality of education,” said Subhankar Banerjee, Secretary, Secondary Teachers and Employees Association.
Prior to this, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education had bifurcated the Class XI and Class XII syllabi from 2005 to reduce the burden on the students.
–Agencies