WBBSE: West Bengal Board of Secondary Education

The Board of Secondary Education in West Bengal was established in 1951 under an Act of the State Legislature called the West Bengal Secondary Education Act of 1950. To start with, there were two basic tasks:

To regulate, control and develop secondary education of the State.
To conduct the School Final Examination.

In 1964, the Board was renamed as West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Act 1963. With the increase in the number of recognized schools, the students appearing in the Secondary Examination have increased. While in 1952, the Board handled only 42000 children, it increased to more than five lakhs in 1976 and in 2006 this figure jumped to nearly 8 lakhs. Over the years, the Board has also taken up other roles and responsibilities which include the publication of text books for different classes as well. It also caters to specific linguistic demands which include books in Santhali (a tribal language), Nepali and Urdu.

The Board has updated the syllabus time and again to cater to the ever increasing demand with the help of independent panel of experts and has also introduced new additional subjects to cope with the demand of modern times. Subjects like Information Technology Computer Application and Hardware Management are being offered as additional subjects in the schools along with the existing ones.

The Board also conducts teachers' orientation to equip them with the changes in the syllabi and teaching techniques. Subject specific such teacher empowerment is a continuous process. New emerging issues are also being fittingly addressed as done in Life-Style Education and environmental studies.

Functions of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education

All examination related works and other administrative works save the management of schools are being done by the four Regional Council offices in Kolkata, Burdwan, Midnapore and North Bengal from 1974.
Conducting of Camp Offices in districts for distribution of examination related papers to the students and the concerned schools.
Publication of results of Secondary Examination in the WEBSITE
Operating help-lines during examination.
Publication of Parshad Barta, a periodic organ (from December 1974) which acts as a forum for sharing of experiences and views.

Sarva Siskhya Abhigyan (SSA)

The Board began its programmes of S.S.A. in the year 2003 for the students at the elementary level (VI to VIII). The Board has organized several programmes towards successful implementation of scheme within the stipulated period for this purpose. Orientation Camps of Secondary Teachers at the division level by the key resources persons for the purpose of achieving goals of SSA at the grass root level have been organized during 2005-06 on different subjects as per new and revised syllabus.

Committees in West Bengal Board of Secondary Education

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee advises the Board on all matters relating to development of secondary education in the state.

Examination Committee

The committee consists of six members and the main function of the committee is to decide and supervise the activities related to conducting of the Madhyamik pariksha i.e.the secondary examination.

Finance Committee

This Committee has the responsibility to prepare the Budget of the Board for each financial year and to watch over expenditure of the Board. The Board has to depend on grant from the State Government to a great extent to meet the expenditure for payment of salary to the staff, pension payment to the retired employees and for conducting examinations and welfare oriented programmes and activities of the Board's employees.

Recognition Committee

During the year 2005-06, 4 (four) meetings of the Recognition Committee were held to decide the matters of recognition of schools, up gradation of schools and withdrawal of recognition of schools as per Government Order.

Syllabus Committee

The syllabus committee of the board consists of 14 members. This committee works through 14 sub committees in accordance with the recommendations of the Equivalence Committee as constituted by the Government of West Bengal. The sub-committees under this committee are subject specific.

The other committees include Appeal Committee and Age and Record Correction Committee

Contact Details

West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE)

77/2, Park Street. Kolkata-70016

Website: www.wbbse.org