Last Saturday  The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education( WBCHSE) issued a notice announcing its big decision to lower the required cut offs of some elective subjects for  students opting to pursue   science stream, lowering it down to 35% from the previous 45%.

“As directed, the Council is pleased to publish the criteria of minimum percentage of marks in a subject, a student must have passed the Secondary Examination or its equivalent examination, to be eligible to take certain science-based elective subjects.”, as stated in the notice Issued by the WBCHSE on Saturday( June 8, 2022).

Those wishing to pursue Mathematics, Statistics, or Computer Science as elective subjects would be considered eligible if they manage to acquire  a minimum of 35% in Mathematics in their 10th standard examinations. Similarly, those interested to pursue Biological Science can do so if they manage to secure the new prerequisite minimum of 35% in life science in the 10th standard.

Students aspiring to enroll in Class 11 with Physics, Chemistry, or both as elective subjects now must secure 35 % marks in their class 10 Physical Science board examinations.

The WBCHSE chairman Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya was reported saying that the previous required cut offs were installed as a countermeasure to contain the large number of applicants that would’ve opted to take up Science post the 10th board examinations in the last few years during the pandemic, and the then cut offs( increased to 45% in 2021) were increased as due to the exams not being conducted , a significant  of students were expected to qualify and opt for subjects with higher cut offs.

In another announcement, the council has decided to increase the maximum number of seats in each higher secondary school from 275 to 400.

On June 3, results for the class 10 state board exams 2022 were released, and out of 10.98 lakh students, over 86% were declared successful with the number of female applicants being more than males.