Semester system to be introduced in primary schools from next academic year

MP, 28 Dec 2024, Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) is introducing a semester system at the primary level from the next academic year. Examinations and evaluations will be held twice under the new system and the syllabus will also witness changes. 

The new system has been christened as ‘Credit Based Semester System’ and the evaluation of the students from classes I to V under the same will commence from the 2025 academic year. 

The Board has made it clear that the assessment of the students in the 2025 academic year will be on the basis of the existing curriculum while from 2026, the students will have to study the revised curriculum. 

WBBPE president Goutam Pal said that the change in the curriculum has already received approval from the state Education department. In the existing procedure, examinations were held once a year on the basis of which students were promoted to the next class. 

Now, there will be examinations twice a year — the first semester will be of 40 marks and the second will be of 60 marks. The first semester will be from January to June while the second will be from July to December. 

There will be no written examinations during the first semester. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their attendance, performance and behaviour in the classroom. 20 marks will be allotted for the project. 

The second semester will be a written examination and the Board will be setting questions for this examination which will be the same throughout the state. 

The schools will be relieved from the responsibility of setting questions; however, the answer scripts’ evaluation will 

“The semester system from the primary level will help the students cope well with a similar system in the secondary and higher secondary level,” said Pal. There will be a credit score for the students. 

For classes I and II, credit score will be awarded on the basis of 376 class hours in a year. The highest credit score will be 13.5. For classes III to V, the total class duration will be 460 hours on the basis of which such score will be awarded. 

The highest credit score will go up to 16.5. The Board will soon start teachers’ orientation in connection with the semester system. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/semester-system-to-be-introduced-in-primary-schools-from-next-academic-year-592462