West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education

West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education ( Bengali : পশ্চিমবঙ্গ উচ্চমাধ্যমিক শিক্ষা সংসদ) is the West Bengal state government administered autonomous examining authority for the Standard 12 examination (or Higher secondary level or Pre-university level examination) of West Bengal, India. The examination for the 12th standard is called the Uchyaa Madhyamik (Bengali:উচ্চ মাধ্যমিক ) or Higher Secondary examination (Also known by its acronym H.S. or 10+2). The Higher Secondary examination is conducted annually and simultaneously all over the state of West Bengal and also in affiliates of the board located outside West Bengal, elsewhere in India.More than 5,00,000 examinees take the exam each year.

It has its headquarters at Vidyasagar Bhavan, Salt Lake City, in Kolkata, India. Besides it main office it has 3 other offices at Bidhannagar, Karunamoyee, Kolkata along with other 4 regional offices.^[1]

History

Till the 1960s the Higher Secondary Examination was conducted under the aegis of the University of Calcutta until the Government of West Bengal established the Council, under the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, Act 1975.^[2]

Operation

The Council is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and is entitled to acquire, hold and dispose of property, to enter into contracts and to do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act and shall by its name sue and be used. Its functions are executed through an organisation structure.

Functions of Council

It is the duty of the Council to advise the State Government on all matters relating to Higher Secondary Education referred to it by the State Government. The Council has the power to direct, supervise and control the Higher Secondary Education in the State.

The major functions of the Council are to :

• assess periodically the educational needs at higher secondary level at the state and lay down the general policy for the development of the higher secondary education;
• provide for inspection of recognised institutions;
• provide by regulations, the curriculum, syllabus, the courses of studies to be followed and the books to be studied in recognised institutions;
• undertake the preparation, publication and sale of text books and other books for use in the Recognized Institutions;
• institute Higher Secondary Examination for the purposes of the Act and to publish results of examination instituted by the Council and to award certificates and scholarship thereof.

Curriculum

The Higher Secondary Course offered by the Council consist of two parts, i.e. Class XI and Class XII. The curriculum of Higher Secondary Course shall consist of :

• Two language subjects one each from Group 'A' and Group 'B' of Schedule II
• Three compulsory elective subjects, one each to be chosen from any group
• One optional elective subject to be chosen from the groups remaining after the selection of compulsory elective subject.

References

External links

Official website