Kolkata,  The West Bengal education department has made pre-board tests mandatory for the students of Class 10 and 12 who are supposed to sit for the board exams in 2022.

The decision to conduct a full-fledged test exam was prompted by the idea that in case there is no-exam because of Omicron -- the new variant of Covid, the results of the Test exam will be taken into consideration for evaluating the students' performance.

In a detailed notification, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Exam -- the board responsible for conducting class 10 exams, said: "As directed, it is hereby notified that the Heads of all recognized Secondary Schools under West Bengal Board of Secondary Education are being informed that the selection test for class 10 must be organised between 13th December, 2021 to 24 December, 2021."

"It is further notified that every school must prepare the question papers of their own and mention the name of the Institution at the top of the question paper for the selection test of Class 10. The question papers of all recognized schools must be sent to the Board immediately after completion of each day of examination," the notification added.

"The question paper pattern of Madhyamik Pariksha (SE), 2022 must be followed in preparation of question papers of the selection test for Class-X. Compliance to the aforesaid policy of the Board is binding upon all the schools," the notification said.

Earlier the West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Exam also made a similar notification asking all its schools to conduct a test for every theoretical paper for Class XII students by December 31 this year.

Schools can decide on their schedule. These Class 12 candidates will appear for their Higher Secondary board exams from April 2 to April 20 next year.

The state council notification makes an on-campus test for Class 12 compulsory though some schools have been holding offline assessments for classes 10 and 12.

Schools have been instructed to preserve the results and subject wise marks that the Class 12 students will obtain in the physical test.

Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, president of the higher secondary education council, said: "Students haven't been to schools for nearly two years. So, they need to take in person tests before appearing for offline board exams. Secondly, we want to be prepared for any kind of possible adverse situation during on-campus tests."