The exams will be held in two sittings and the students will be given an additional 15-minute "cool-off" time before the commencement of the each exam to read and analyse the question paper.
Stung by scams in Board exams for the last three years running, the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has released its examination calendar for 2018 much in advance so that schools and district administrations have adequate time to prepare to conduct cheating-free tests.
While the Class XII exams are slated to start from February 6 and conclude on February 16, the Class X exams will be held between February 21 and 28. The exams will be held in two sittings and the students will be given an additional 15-minute "cool-off" time before the commencement of the each exam to read and analyse the question paper.
"The schedule has been released so that students also get enough time to prepare for their papers. More so, because Class X exams were generally held in March every year," a senior BSEB official said, adding that advancing the examination to February would give the Board more time for evaluation and timely publication of results.
BSEB chairman Anand Kishor said this is also the first time the practical exams will be held before the theory papers. "It will be conduced between January 11 and 25 for Class XII students and January 22 and 24 for Class X students. The Board has done away with home centres and the exam centres will be decided by the respective district magistrate," he said.
The new norms for holding practical exams comes in the wake of 42-year-old "topper" Ganesh Kumar scoring 65/70 in Music practicals in the 2017 intermediate exams. Kumar was later arrested for forging his name and age and his result was cancelled.
With a view to prepare the students for the exams, the BSEB will also conduct sent-up exams for the candidates. "Those examinees who do not take the sent-up test will not be allowed to sit for the main exams. It will be held in November and December and the schools will have to send the marksheet of students, as well as a list of absentees to the Board after completion of the exam," Kishor added.
It may be recalled that the BSEB was hit by mass-cheating in Matriculation exams in 2015 and "topper scams" in 2016 and 2017 when non-deserving students found place in the Board's merit list.
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