Centres with heaters, exam in jumbo corridors: Madhyamik signals start of board season
Times of India | 11 February 2025
123456 Siliguri/Kharagpur: From the use of heaters at high-altitude schools in Sukhiapokhri and Maneybhanjan in Darjeeling to the use of special vehicles to ferry examinees through elephant corridors and the use of boats in the remote areas of South 24 Parganas, multiple measures were adopted across the state to facilitate Madhyamik examinees for their first board exam paper on Monday.
Over 9.8 lakh students appeared for the First Language paper on Monday. The Second Language paper is on Tuesday. Madhyamik is being held at 2,683 exam centres. The exams will continue till Feb 22.
Two schools at high altitudes in Darjeeling provided heaters to help students combat the cold and write the exam comfortably. However, students at other schools in the district had a tough time writing the exam in biting cold conditions. Darjeeling has 11 main centres, 25 sub-venues, and 36 venues. Of them, only two main centres used room heaters on Monday, said the district convenor of the Madhyamik examination, Anil Sharma. From Tuesday, all centres will get room heaters.
Around 4,809 students are appearing for the Madhyamik examination from Darjeeling this year. Heaters were available at Sukhiapokhri High School, situated at 2,194 metres above sea level, and Maneybhanjan High School, at an altitude of 1,928 metres. Sukhiapokhri has 234 students appearing for the Madhyamik exam this year, while Maneybhanjan has 54 examinees.
From the Hills to the forests of north and south Bengal, there are 78 schools near 26 elephant corridors spanning 428 km. These include schools in West Midnapore, Jhargram, Birbhum, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri. Forest officials escorted examinees to exam centres through elephant corridors using ‘elephant-proof' Airavat vehicles with sirens blaring.
The forest department monitored approximately 10 km of road from Gurguripal in Midnapore Sadar Block to the Nayagram forest path, with examination centres located in schools across Gurguripal, Chandra and Nayagram.
In West Midnapore, six examination centres lie within the elephant corridor, while Jhargram has 39 centres. There are around 93 elephants in Jhargram and 25 in West Midnapore now.
In addition to escort vehicles, 10 vehicles are conducting regular patrols during examinations. Jhargram district has installed 20 drop gates for additional security. West Midnapore district magistrate Khurshid Ali Qadri reported approximately 53,000 Madhyamik examinees this year.
In South 24 Parganas, examinees from Gosaba and Basanti used boats to reach exam centres.
WBBSE President Ramanuj Ganguly said that the first day of exams went smoothly and reported cases are very few considering the total number of examinees.