West Bengal Education Minister Comments on Centre’s Common Board Proposal

India

-Krishna Kripa

Updated: Thursday, June 19, 2025, 23:42 [IST]

West
Bengal
Education
Minister
Bratya
Basu
stated
on
Thursday
that
he
has
not
received
any
official
communication
from
the
Union
Ministry
of
Education
regarding
a
recommendation
for
seven
states
to
adopt
a
unified
board
for
classes
10
and
12.
This
suggestion
came
after
an
analysis
showed
these
states
accounted
for
66%
of
student
failures
last
year.

Basu
emphasised
that
students
under
West
Bengal’s
educational
boards
consistently
achieve
high
pass
rates
in
their
class
10
and
12
examinations.
“We
are
yet
to
hear
anything
about
this
from
the
Centre.
However,
whatever
I
read
in
the
press,
the
issue
is
not
relevant
to
our
state.
Except
for
the
COVID
period,
the
pass
percentage
of
candidates
appearing
in
both
secondary
and
higher
secondary
exams
in
West
Bengal
has
been
high,” he
said.

Common
Board
Proposal

The
Ministry
of
Education’s
proposal
targets
Andhra
Pradesh,
Assam,
Kerala,
Manipur,
Odisha,
Telangana,
and
West
Bengal.
These
states
were
identified
as
having
significant
student
failure
rates.
The
School
Education
Department’s
analysis
led
to
this
recommendation.
The
aim
is
to
improve
academic
outcomes
by
standardising
the
examination
process
across
these
regions.

In
West
Bengal,
the
Madhyamik
examination
for
class
10
is
conducted
by
the
West
Bengal
Board
of
Secondary
Education.
Meanwhile,
the
West
Bengal
Council
of
Higher
Secondary
Education
oversees
the
class
12
final
exams.
This
year,
86.56%
of
9,69,425
candidates
passed
the
Madhyamik
exam.
Additionally,
90.79%
of
4,82,948
candidates
succeeded
in
their
class
12
exams.

Current
Examination
Boards

India
has
a
total
of
66
school
examination
boards.
These
include
three
national-level
boards
and
63
state-level
boards—54
regular
and
12
open
boards.
Among
these,
the
top
33
boards
cover
97%
of
students
nationwide.
The
remaining
boards
cater
to
just
3%
of
students.

School
Education
Secretary
Sanjay
Kumar
stated,
“Common
board
for
classes
10
and
12
is
the
way
forward
for
ease
of
schooling.
Not
having
a
common
board
leads
to
poor
academic
outcomes.
We
have
recommended
these
states
to
adopt
a
common
board.”

The
proposal
aims
to
streamline
education
standards
across
different
states.
By
adopting
a
common
board
system,
it
is
believed
that
educational
consistency
and
quality
can
be
enhanced
nationwide.

With
inputs
from
PTI