Council reverts decision; HS exam in separate answer scripts

Revoking its earlier decision to combine question papers and answer scripts in the plus two board examinations from 2020, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has decided to revert to the old system of providing separate answer scripts to examinees.

Council president Mohua Das in a notification issued on Thursday said, in the Higher Secondary Examinations for 2020, Part A section will have separate question paper and answer sheet and not a Question-cum-Answer booklet.

Section B comprising a separate question paper with multiple choice and objective type questions will have to be answered in the question paper itself, as was the earlier practice, and tagged on to the main answer script, Das said.

The notification said, the decision was taken following a directive from the education department.

The council had said in July that from 2020, there would be a new Question-cum-Answer Booklet (QCAB) system, on which answers for all the questions would have to be written in the space provided below.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee said, "The council president had not taken the consent of the ministry before arriving at the decision to introduce the QCAB system, which had created confusion.

"The exams will be held as per the old format," the minister said.

The Council's new notification was addressed to Head masters of Higher Secondary educational institutions and students.

The previous notification which was posted on the Council's website since July now stands cancelled with immediate effect, Das said.

Till this year, answers to essay type questions had to be written in separate answer sheets while answers to multiple choice and objective-type questions had to be penned on the question paper itself and clubbed with the main answer sheet.