The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has opened the control rooms in every district for students ahead of the class 10 board exams in the state. The control rooms were opened on January 26, following the state government’s direction.

The board has also released helpline numbers for 9.23 lakh students who will be sitting for the upcoming West Bengal Madhyamik examination. The West Bengal class 10 board exams 2024 will be held from February 2 to February 12.

Helpline numbers

The helpline numbers for the examination section are 033 23213216 and 033 23213844 and the helpline numbers for the control room are 033 23592277 and 033 23592278. Also, the helpline numbers have been assigned to four regional offices:

Burdwan – 9147135747

North Bengal– 9147135748

Midnapore– 9147135752

Kolkata– 9147135749

Control Rooms Were Opened After Calcutta HC Order

According to sources, the government directed the board for opening of district-level control rooms as well as block-level control rooms following an order of the Calcutta High Court. The District Magistrates and Block Development Officers were directed by the HC to set up the control rooms.

The court’s order came while hearing a petition that challenged the change in the exam timings by WBBSE. This year, the exams will be conducted from 9:45 am to 1 pm instead of the usual 11:45 am to 3 pm. This change in timings of the board exam was challenged by a petitioner in the HC. Justice Biswajit Basu, hearing the case recently, held that the board authorities failed to give a clear justification for change in exam timings. Though Justice Basu declined to interfere with the board’s decision, he issued a few guidelines for the benefit of students.

The single judge bench of the HC stated that both the board and the State must ensure that students do not have any difficulties in taking the examination. The Bench mandated that all Control Rooms should have adequate functional helpline numbers. These numbers should be extensively publicised for the benefit of the students by all possible means, including loudspeaker announcements from the local police stations.

The administration was directed by the HC to make all arrangements to get students to the examination centre at least half an hour before the scheduled time in case any control room received information about problems faced by any student. The HC had ordered to implement the directives by January 29.