'Revised school schedule a relief for students coming from far-off places'
kolkata: The revised school timings announced by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) was welcomed by the students and teachers considering the fact that those coming from far off places were finding it difficult to reach school by 9.30 am as per the previous timing notified by the Board.
When schools had reopened on November 16 after a gap of 20 months, the WBBSE had scheduled holding classes (IX to XII) 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.
"My ward studies in class XI at Jadavpur Vidyapith. He had to start as early as 8 am for reaching school from Maheshtala in South 24-Parganas. Now, with the revised timing of 10.50 am, he has to start at 9.30 am. It is much more convenient for him," a guardian said. Headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith Parimal Bhattacharya welcomed the new timing but opined that the Board should not have been rigid with the scheduling of specific classes.
"The infrastructure of a school in Kolkata may not be the same as that of a school in Kakdwip so it would have been better if it had left it upon the schools to decide the timings on their own by spelling out COVID-19 guidelines," he added.
As per the revised timings, classes will 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. There will be no classes on Saturdays.
Subhrajit Dutta, headmaster of Hindu School said they had been following a standard timing five days a week after consulting guardians and teachers and would continue to do so.
"The test examination for class X and XII will start from December 3," he added.
A headmaster of a school in North Kolkata said as it had already been notified that students of class IX will be evaluated through the Model Activity Compilation (MAC) 2021 which they have to solve from their respective residences. The final MAC (2021) that has already been uploaded on the Banglar Siksha Portal will be downloaded, printed and distributed among the students (through their parents) by the school authorities during the Mid Day meal distribution in November. The students will be asked to write the answers of MAC and submit the same by the 2nd week of December. So there is little possibility that a student of class IX will come to school after MAC," he added.
