Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has decided to make major change in the Class 12th (XIIth) board exams from 2025 to make students more aware about the competitive entrance exams held at National level.
According to the changes made by the Council, the students enrolled in Class 11th in 2024 and who will appear for the Class 12th exams in 2026 will have semester wise exams.
"The 12th exams from the year 2026 will be conducted in two Semesters. The first Semester will have Multiple Choice Answer Format in Optical Marks Recognition (OMR) sheets", the Council said.
"Almost all the national-level examinations are conducted in OMR Sheets under the Multiple-Choice Format."
“So this new system will help the students from West Bengal get used to the national practice from the higher secondary level,” said a senior official from the West Bengal Education Department.
Starting from Class 11th itself, there will be four semesters — two in Class XI and two in Class XII, the Council said.
According to sources in the Council, the first semester examination for Class XI will be held in November, 2024 while the second semester will be conducted in March, 2025. In November, 2025, the first semester for class XII will be held while the second will be held in March, 2026.
"The final evaluation will be made based on a student’s performance in the two semesters of class XII", the Council said.
The council has already secured the nod of the state Education Department in this matter.
“The exam pattern under the new system will be in line with the West Bengal's own Education Policy", the official said.
The proposal to partially shift to the new exam pattern in Multiple-Choice Format has evoked mixed reactions. One section of educationists feels that this is the right step in the right direction to keep the students adapted with the national practice.
However, another section feels that in the new system, there will be high possibilities of exam malpractices in the backdrop of the fact that OMR sheets played a major role in the irregularities in the ongoing cash for school jobs case in the state.
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