West Bengal yet to receive any communication from Centre about common board: Education Minister Basu

KOLKATA: West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Thursday said he is yet to receive any communication from the Union Ministry of Education, which has recommended seven states to adopt a common board for classes 10 and 12 after an analysis flagged that they accounted for 66 per cent of student failures last year.

Speaking to reporters, Basu said students of the West Bengal boards always perform well, and the class 10 and 12 final examinations conducted by them record a high pass percentage.

"We are yet to hear anything about this from the Centre. However, whatever I read in the press, the issue is not relevant to our state. Except for the COVID period, the pass percentage of candidates appearing in both secondary and higher secondary exams in West Bengal has been high," he said.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education conducts the Madhyamik examination for class 10, while the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education conducts the class 12 final examinations.

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Common Class 10, 12 board for 7 states

This year, 86.56 per cent out of the total 9,69,425 candidates cleared the Madhaymik examination, while 90.79 per cent of 4,82,948 candidates cleared the class 12 exams.

PTI had reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Education has recommended seven states to adopt a common board for classes 10 and 12 after an analysis by the School Education Department found they accounted for 66 per cent of student failures last year.

The seven states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal. There are a total of 66 school examination boards in the country -- three national-level boards and 63 state-level boards (54 regular and 12 open boards).

While the top 33 boards cover 97 per cent of students, the remaining 33 boards cover just 3 per cent of students. "Common board for classes 10 and 12 is the way forward for ease of schooling. Not having a common board leads to poor academic outcomes. We have recommended these states to adopt a common board," School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said.