The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has banned teachers from carrying any electronic gadgets during invigilation duty in the upcoming Madhyamik (Class 10 board) examination.
The WBBSE recently released guidelines stating that invigilators must submit their mobile phones and other electronic gadgets to “their respective Centre Secretary/Venue Supervisor immediately on reporting to duty on examination days.”
The restriction will be applicable on examination days from 9 am to 4 pm. A daily register will be made to keep a record of the gadgets submitted.
If any teaching or non-teaching staff does not carry any device then they would have to give a declaration stating the same.
Teachers and other staff not directly involved in the examination process would also be required to submit their mobiles if they are present at the centre during the examination.
According to sources, centre secretaries and venue supervisors have been instructed to report any instances of non-compliance immediately via the ELIXAM App. The ad-hoc committee of the WBBSE will swiftly address any violation of the directive and the teacher or staff member concerned will be held liable for non-compliance, said a source.
In another development, the WBBSE has decided to not depute any civic volunteers inside examination centres. Para teachers and contractual teachers will also not be given invigilation duty or any duty which will involve handling confidential examination materials.
The Board has also asked guardians of examinees to not enter examination halls. In case of any emergency if a guardian is required to enter the hall, then s/he will be frisked by the police on duty.
“This is being done as previously it has been seen that people have misused the access given to them and helped students to cheat,” said a source.
Invigilators, on the other hand, will not be frisked by the police but by the school staff themselves before entering examination halls.
This year, 9,84,753 students will be appearing in the Madhyamik examination, among whom 5,55,950 are girls. The examination will be held from February 10 to February 22.