Board

The Board of Secondary Education was established in 1951 under an Act of the State Legislature called   the West Bengal
Secondary Education Act of 1950. The Board was inaugurated by the then Governor of West Bengal Dr.K.N.Katju on 3rd May 1951 and the Board started functioning under the Chairmanship of Sri Apurba Kumar Chanda. The basic task before the Board was twofold.

     1.To regulate, control and develop secondary education of the State.
     2.To conduct the School Final Examination.

Previously this was done by Calcutta University. The Board was subsequently renamed as West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in 1964, under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Act 1963. During its long history the Board was superseded by the State Govt. twice. The first instance was from 1954 to 1963 (Bengal Secondary Education (Temporary Provisions) Ordinance 1954) and the second occasion arose from 1978 to  1980. The Board, an autonomous body, in its present look came into existence from    January 1964 with Dr. J.C.Sengupta in the Chair.

The operational ambit of the Board has increased manifold over the years. In 1951 the Board started its journey with 1270 high schools taken over from Calcutta University which increased to 2312 by the end of 1963 and to more than 8000 by the, end of 1975 including some schools outside the territorial jurisdiction of the State. Presently the Board is    handling around 10238 numbers of schools. With the increase in the number of recognized schools, the examinees appearing in the Secondary Examination (School Leaving Examination with a general syllabus) have increased. In 1952, the Board handled only 42000 examinees, which increased to more than five lakhs in 1976 and in 2006 this figure jumped to nearly 8 lakhs Over the years, the Board has also taken up the publication of text books for different classes as well according approval to books from private authors and publishers for their introduction in different schools including books in Santhali (a tribal language), Nepali and Urdu catering to specific linguistic demands. The research and review of text books are done by panels of independent experts to ensure strict quality control and maintain standard.         

To cater to the ever increasing demand, the Board time and again has restructured the syllabi with the help of independent panel of experts (the latest effort in this regard has  been taken in 1999) and has also introduced new additional subjects to cope with the demand of modern times. Subjects like Information Technology Computer Application and  Hardware Management are being offered as additional subjects in the schools. The board  also conducts teachers’ orientation to equip them with the changes in the syllabi and teaching techniques. Subject specific such teacher empowerment is a continuous process. New emerging issues are also being fittingly addressed as done in Life-Style Education and environmental studies.

   The Board has always strived to achieve a people-friendly visage for this –

   •  All examination related works and other administrative works save the management of    schools are being done by the four Regional Council offices in Kolkata, Burdwan, Midnapore and North Bengal from 1974.

   • Conducting of Camp Offices in districts for distribution of examination related papers to    the students and the concerned schools.

   •  Publication of results of Secondary Examination in the WEBSITE

   •  Operating help-lines during examination.

For more details visit the official website...  http://wbbse.org   

The Government of West Bengal has established the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, under West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, Act 1975. The council is the main body which looks after the education system in the 10+2. The council has its main office at Salt Lake, Bidhannagar, Korunamoyee, Kolkata along with 4 regional offices.

The Council is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and is entitled to acquire, hold and dispose of property, to enter into contracts and to do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act and shall by its name
sue and be used. Its functions are executed through an Organisation Structure.

The Council consists of members like The President appointed by the State Govt.and other ex-oficio members like: The President of the Board of Secondary Education-Ex Officio, The Director of School Education-Ex-Officio, The Director of Technical Education-Ex-officio, The Director of Industries-Ex-officio, The Director of Agriculture-Ex-Officio, The Director of SCERT-Ex-officio etc.  

Members of the Council

It is the duty of the Council to advise the State Government on all matters relating to Higher Secondary Education referred to it by the State Government. The Council has the power to direct, supervise and control the Higher Secondary Education in the State.

The major functions of the Council are to :

1. assess periodically the Educational needs at higher secondary level at the state and lay down the General policy for the development of the Higher Secondary Education;
2. provide for inspection of Recognised Institutions;
3. provide by regulations, the curriculum, syllabus, the courses of studies to be followed and the books to be studied in Recognised Institutions;
4. undertake the preparation, publication and sale of Text Books and other books for use in the Recognized Institutions;
5. institute Higher Secondary Examination for the purposes of the Act;
6. and to publish results of examination instituted by the Council and to award certificates and scholarship thereof;
   The Higher Secondary Course shall consist of two parts, i.e. Class XI and Class XII. The curriculum of Higher Secondary Course shall consist of
   
   1. Two language subjects one each from Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ of Schedule II
   2. Three compulsory elective subjects, one each to be chosen from any group
   3. One optional elective subject to be chosen from the groups remaining after the selection of compulsory elective subject.

For more details visit the official website...  https://wbchse.nic.in