Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has recommended the heads of institutions for conducting online classes for students during summer and Durga Puja recess in its annual working plan for class XI and XII.
The Council has recently come out with its annual working plan for the 2024-25 academic year where it has laid special emphasis on teaching learning. “There are many subjects in the higher secondary level compared to the secondary level. The first semester examination is scheduled to be held in September. If the syllabus is not completed in time, how will the students sit for the examination? For the sake of the students, we have recommended online classes. It is, however, not mandatory,” a WBCHSE official said.
The schools have declared early summer holidays owing to the extreme heatwave conditions that hit the state recently. “We reminded the teachers that early holidays should not affect the academic activities by any means,” the official added.
The Council has earmarked ‘contact hours’ for effective studying with the introduction of a semester system from this year. The first semester’s contact hours is 100 while that of the second is 80. Another 20 hours has been allotted for home assignment, tutorial and remedial classes.
In case of Puja vacation, there is an extended holiday of 12-13 days after the end of Lakshmi Puja till Bhaiphonta after which the school reopens. The Council will ask the schools to hold online classes, if necessary, during this period.
“We welcome the Council’s move as in the newly introduced semester system, there may be possibility of holding virtual classes for completion of the syllabus,” said Partha Pratim Baidya, headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith.
According to the schedule of Higher Secondary, the first semester will be starting from September 13. In March, the second semester for class XI will be held alongside the higher
secondary examination.