No disruption on higher secondary exams day 1: WBCHSE head, Chiranjib Bhattacharya
Telegraph | 5 March 2025
The first paper of the state higher secondary examinations was conducted without “any disruption” across 2,100 centres, the higher secondary council said on Monday.
At least three students’ organisations had called for a students’ strike on Monday in the aftermath of the violence at Jadavpur University, raising concerns among examinees and their parents about reaching their centres on time.
At several centres, students reached much before the scheduled time, said heads of schools.
In a centre near Gariahat, about 4km from Jadavpur University, students started coming around 8.15am. They had to be at the centre by 9am.
“The first paper (first language) of the higher secondary examination was conducted successfully without any disruption,” said Chiranjib Bhattacharya, president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education.
About 5 lakh students are writing the exam this year.
On the eve of the exam, Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma held a press conference and asked protesters to show “restraint”, keeping the HS examinees in mind. Verma said all arrangements would be in place to ensure that the disruptions do not affect the exam schedule.
The three-hour paper started at 10am. But students were told to reach the exam centres by 9am for security screening through hand-held metal detectors to prevent them from entering the exam hall with any electronic device like phone or smartwatch.
Despite the security screening, an examinee of Kamarhati High School on the northern outskirts of Calcutta who appeared for the test at the Kamarhati Sagore Dutta Free High School centre managed to sneak in a phone into the examination hall, a council official said.
“A student was found with a smartphone towards the end of the exam. By that time, he had clicked photographs of the question paper, though there is no evidence of him leaking the question paper,” said a council official.
The student’s paper was cancelled. He will be barred from appearing for the rest of the papers, the official said.
The council introduced a slew of security measures this year. A few centres did not allow students to wear analogue watches, too. The council blamed it on “miscommunication”.
“There is a ban on smartwatches but not analogue ones,” an official said.