Board of Secondary Education revises school schedule

Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has brought in a change in the schedule of schools for the students of Class IX to XII.

Classes will now be held on Tuesday and Thursday for class IX and XI while that of class X and XII will be held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The school timing will be from 10.50 am to 4.30 pm, which was the standard timing of schools in the pre–Covid period.

There will be no classes on Saturdays and feedback sessions, awareness generation and orientation of guardians will be organised on that day.

The Commissioner of School Education will ensure presence of Senior Education Officers during such feedback sessions to be held at school level on every Saturday for appropriate feedback in his end. The schedule of schools for the Hilly region of Darjeeling and Kalimpong will be from 9.30 am to 3 pm.

Schools that were closed as a preventive measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 since March 2020, had opened up on November 16 after a gap of 20 months.

Since then, classes (IX to XII) were held on a regular basis (from Monday to Saturday) in two shifts.

Classes for students of classes IX and XI were held from 10 am to 3.30 am while that of classes X and XII were held from 11 am to 4.30 pm. In both cases students had to report half-an-hour in advance.

There was objection from a section of teachers regarding the old schedule as the burden of academics was proving to be quite hectic for them.

The Secondary Board consulted various stakeholders and changed the timing which will be effective immediately.

Chandan Maity, general secretary of Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistress has urged the Education department for gradually opening up schools for classes I to VIII in consultation with the stakeholders so that classes can continue smoothly.