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West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education

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West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education
AbbreviationWBCHSE
EstablishedApril 3, 1975; 49 years ago (1975-04-03) [1]
TypeGovernment Organisation
HeadquartersVidyasagar Bhavan, Salt Lake, Kolkata – 700 091
President
Dr. Chiranjib Bhattacharya [2]
Secretary
Dr. Priyadarshini Mallick [3]
Websitewbchse.wb.gov.in

The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) is an Indian autonomous examining authority, which is responsible for conducting examinations for standard XII for both government and private schools affiliated to this board. It came into existence in 1975. It is responsible for improvement and promotion of education in the state. WBCHSE conducts the West Bengal Higher Secondary Examinations (Class 12) each year, for which more than 8 Lakh students appear across the state.[4][5][6][7]

First Higher Secondary examination was conducted by WBCHSE in 1978.[8] Till then, its equivalent exam was conducted by University of Calcutta.

Examination System

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In the initial years, students had to write answers to essay type questions and long answer type questions. Later, this was considered as 'stressful', 'unscientific' and 'injustice' to students as some single questions used to carry 16 marks and 5 such questions had to be answered in some subjects. There remained chances of non-uniform evaluation of different students' answer by different examiners.[9] Short answer type questions were introduced eventually.

Exams of each subject comprised of two papers. Paper 1 focussed on topics of present-day class XI and Paper 2 of present-day class XII mainly. In 2009, the syllabus was bifurcated and from 2010 exams, the two paper system had been done away with. Since then, WBCHSE had been conducting Annual Exam at the end of class XI and the HS exam at the end of class XII.[10] Schools were directed to conduct a 'Test Examination' mandatorily at the end of class 12 for qualifying to write in the HS exam. Many schools used to conduct half-yearly exams internally for class XI and XII in the middle of each session.

In 2024, as per Council's direction, schools individually conducted the Annual Exam of class XI strictly following the question structure of the Council.[10] The HS exam of 2025 was the last one conducted by wbchse in Annual system.

Replacing the age-old Annual system, WBCHSE introduced 4 phased semester system from the academic year 2024-25, first in India in Higher secondary level. It consists of two semesters for class XI (Sem-1 and Sem-2) and next two semesters for class XII (Sem-3 and Sem-4). Sem-1 is MCQ based and Sem-2 is descriptive. These two exams make up the class XI curriculum.

In accordance with the State Education Policy of Government of West Bengal, the erstwhile 'HS exam' or 12th board exam now comprises of MCQ based Semester 3 exam and descriptive questions based Semester 4 exam. Students will appear in the HS exam under this system in 2026 for the first time.[11]

Major Changes

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Since its inception in 1975, the syllabi, course structure, curricula and subjects offered were changed several times. The first major syllabus change was done in 2005 [12] and later in 2013.[13] The latest change in subject combination, syllabi and exam structure was done in 2024-25.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ List of Holidays
  2. ^ Council & Committee
  3. ^ Official Website of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education
  4. ^ "-:: Welcome to the Official Website of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education ::-". Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  5. ^ "West Bengal Class 12th results declared: Here's the pass percentage". India Today. Ist.
  6. ^ "WBCHSE HS Result 2018 LIVE Updates: WB Class 12th Result at wbresults.nic.in. East Midnapore Tops Districts". News18. 8 June 2018.
  7. ^ "WB Class 12 Results 2020". Results.Siksha. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Official Website of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education". West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  9. ^ "HS Closes Chapter of Long Answers". 4 October 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ a b Ghosh, Bishwanath (25 May 2023). "West Bengal schools to conduct their own Class XI exams". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  11. ^ "West Bengal HS council notifies semester system in state-run schools". The Times of India. 20 April 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  12. ^ "Now, new-look HS". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 20 June 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "Expert committee to upgrade HS syllabus". The Times of India. 4 January 2012. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  14. ^ "WBCHSE revises class 11, 12 syllabus for 17 subjects, including English, Bengali, and Commerce & Arts subjects: Check list of changes". The Times of India. 16 December 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
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Official website

Books published by WBCHSE in 2024

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