Extra time for Madhyamik candidates because of power outage triggered by heavy rain
Telegraph | 22 February 2025
About 50 schools in five districts gave Madhyamik examinees additional time because of a power outage at those venues triggered by heavy rain on Thursday afternoon.
The state’s Class X board examinations, which began on February 10, start at 10.45am and continue till 2pm.
The schools in these five districts — South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and East Burdwan — appealed to the state secondary education board for additional time to help the students.
The head of a school in South 24-Parganas said heavy rain around noon triggered the power outage.
“The examinees became tense. As power was unlikely to be restored soon, we appealed to the district authorities to contact the board’s representatives, requesting additional time. The appeal was approved. Considering the period of disruption, we allowed examinees to write till 2.15pm after the power supply was restored,” said the head of an institution.
The head of another institution, in Hooghly district, said he allowed an additional 10 minutes.
“The board authorised us to give time based on the time needed for the restoration of power supply. We needed 10 additional minutes,” said the school head.
On Thursday, the students wrote their physical science paper.
The Madhyamik examinations end on February 22.
State secondary board president Ramanuj Ganguly said the centre secretaries gave the venue supervisors the responsibility of ensuring additional time ranging from 10 to 15 minutes was given if there was a disruption.
“This was need-based. Many schools had provisions for emergency lights. There was heavy rain in some areas. The decision was taken in the interest of students,” Ganguly told The Telegraph.