OMR sheets to be sent directly to centres

Kolkata: Learning from logistical disruptions during the Higher Secondary Semester III examinations in September, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has revised its material distribution plan for the Semester III supplementary examinations, deciding that only question papers will be routed through custodians while OMR sheets will be sent directly to examination centres.

Officials said the decision follows problems encountered during the Semester III (Part-I) examinations held from September 8 to 22, when question papers and OMR sheets were dispatched together to custodian centres. The combined volume exceeded storage capacity at several custodian points, forcing trucks carrying confidential materials to wait outside for days in some districts, unable to unload. This delayed the return of vehicles required to transport materials to other centres. Question papers eventually reached all districts only on the evening of September 7, a day before the examinations began.

The volume of materials was further increased due to the MCQ format of the examination, which required multi-page question papers carrying four options per question. The Council had also prepared two separate sets of question papers for major subjects as a precaution against malpractice and dispatched them together with additional OMR sheets, significantly adding to the bulk.

WBCHSE president Chiranjib Bhattacharya said OMR sheets are not confidential and routing them through custodians served no operational purpose. He said many centres received 50 to 60 percent extra OMR sheets and, in some cases, nearly double the actual requirement, occupying limited storage space unnecessarily.

Under the revised plan, OMR sheets for the Semester III supplementary examination, along with blank answer scripts and loose sheets meant for the other two examinations, will bypass custodians and be sent directly to examination centres. Question papers will continue to be routed through custodians.

Alongside the supplementary examinations, the Semester IV (Part-II) examination for the 2026 batch will be held from February 12 to 27, from 10 am to 12 pm, using newly introduced 12-leaf blank answer scripts. The use of loose sheets will be discouraged. Question papers will be opened in the examination hall and distributed to candidates at 9.50 am for reading time, while answer scripts will be issued at 10 am.

The Semester III supplementary examination will be held from 1 pm to 2.15 pm. OMR sheets will be distributed at 12.50 pm to allow candidates to fill in particulars, with question papers handed out at 1 pm. Alongside these, the annual Higher Secondary examination under the old system will run from 10 am to 1.15 pm, using eight-leaf answer scripts with loose sheets.