Just before the examinations are scheduled to start, the board made the passing criteria clear. Of the seven subjects if a student gets

grade D — less than 25 marks — in more than two subjects, then only he will be failed in the examination. In case he secures grade D in two subjects, then he can appear in the compartmental examination the next year only in those subjects.

This means if a student can secure 26 marks in all the seven papers then he can pass the examination. The concept of grand total has been done away with. In the system of indirect grading marks in each subject will be displayed along with the grades.

In the earlier setup a student had to secure a minimum of 34 per cent in any group to pass the examination. However, in each paper students with below 20 marks were considered failed.

“The optional elective will only be a way to increase the skills and knowledge of a student. It is not going to affect the status of the result of a candidate in any way,” said Mamata Roy, president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

The board also pointed that the number of students appearing in the elective subjects like work education and physical education have decreased subsequently.

The statistics of the candidates enrolled to appear for the examination also point that the gulf between the male and female students appearing for the exam has reduced this year. Of the 8,54,389 students scheduled to appear in the examination on February 23, 50.4 per cent are male and 49.58 per cent are female students.

Last year, 53 per cent candidates were male and the rest were females. “With efforts to bring more students into schools it is the girls who are getting the benefit,” said the board authorities.

With over one lakh increase in the number of examinees this year the board has appointed more examiners —from 36,650 examiners last year to 39,500 this year.

The board has also decided to come up with question papers of physical science and life science in Hindi also, along with Bengali, English and Nepali.