West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has said that restrictions have been imposed on the duties of civic volunteers, para teachers and contractual teachers for this year’s Madhyamik examinations meant for Class 10 students to ensure transparency in the conduct of the public examination.
The Class 10 examinations of the West Bengal state board will be held from February 10 to February 22.
According to sources, civic volunteers will be allowed to discharge duties only outside the exam centres, while para teachers and contractual teachers will not be given invigilation duty or other duties involving handling of confidential examination materials.
“These measures are taken in order to maintain transparency in the examination process. It has been seen that since the civic volunteers and para teachers are generally local individuals that there is community pressure on them to favour local students. The steps have been taken to create a peaceful examination environment and students do not face any uncomfortable situation,” said WBBSE president Ramanuj Ganguly.
Furthermore, teachers of children or close relatives who are appearing for the public examination at the same centre would also not be allowed to enter the examination hall, although they must remain present at the school.
Once the question paper bundles are opened and distributed, no teacher, para teacher or school staff would be allowed to leave the centre until the examination concludes.
Strict measures have been implemented to restrict the access of the guardians of candidates to exam halls. Parents or guardians would be allowed to drop their child at the gate of the examination centre and not enter the examination halls. In case of emergency, the guardian will be permitted to enter the exam hall only after being frisked by the police on duty.
Previously guardians were allowed to enter the examination halls to drop their children.
According to a source, it has come to the notice of the authorities that many guardians have gained access to exam halls on earlier occasions claiming there was an emergency and distributed cheating materials to students.
Examiners will be frisked by the school staff to ensure that they do not carry any prohibited items like mobile phones, smart watches or any electronic devices.