3 lakh students less in West Bengal 12th board! Know the reason

This year, a record drop in the number of students was seen in the 12th class examination of the West Bengal Board. Let us know the reason why this has happened.

The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has released the result of class 12 on Wednesday, but this year's result is in the news for a special reason. Actually, this time, a decline of about 3 lakh regular students has been recorded in the 12th board examination. This decline is not only the result of figures but also a special policy change.

Only 4.73 lakh students appeared in the exam in 2025

According to WBCHSE, a total of 4,73,919 regular students appeared in the examination this year, while last year this number was 7,55,324. That is, a decrease of 2,81,405 students has been seen. Council Chairman Chiranjib Bhattacharya said that this decline is due to the change in the age-related policy made in 2017.

Why did the number of students decrease?

Bhattacharya said that in the year 2017, the minimum age for admission in class 5 was fixed at 10 years. Many students of that year could not meet this age criterion and were stopped. When the same batch reached the 10th examination in 2023, even then many students could not proceed due to age constraint. Due to this reason, a large number of students could not appear in the examination in 12th as well.

The WBCHSE chairman clarified that there was a decline in the number of students in the 2023 secondary examination and the effect of the same is now seen in the 2025 Higher Secondary Examination.

Now the exam system is going to change

While releasing the result, Bhattacharya also made a big announcement that 2025 will be the last year when WBCHSE will conduct the 12th board examination every year. From the coming session, exams will be conducted in semester system.