The West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has issued a notification allowing the candidates of the higher secondary examination to check their answer scripts after publication of results.

Introducing the new system called Procedure for Self Inspection (PSI), the council has said that this system will also enable students to review their answer sheets if they are not satisfied with the marks awarded to them. An online window will be opened on the council website on 5 July for students to apply for it. Candidates who have appeared in the exams this year will also be eligible to apply. After filling up an application form, a particular date will be given to the students for visiting Vidyasagar Bhavan.

The student will be able to see their answer scripts there on the fixed date and if they so wish, they can also obtain a photocopy of their answer sheets. Applications for self-inspection of answer scripts will be accepted till six months after the publication of results.

There will also be a facility through which the students can keep track of the status of their application in the interval between the time of online application and fixing of the date. “The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has decided to introduce the self-inspection of answer scripts to make the examination system more transparent. This new procedure will enable the students to check their answer scripts in a better and faster way. Since the colleges always have a stipulated time frame for the students to apply, they become impatient and restless to know their marks,” said council president Dr Mahua Das.

Sometimes candidates go to court or take other recourse but now this problem will be solved and also the entire process is free, she added. Earlier, the aggrieved candidates would have to either file an application under RTI (right to information) Act or appeal in court for permission to see the answer scripts after the publication of results. According to council sources, the earlier procedure was very time-consuming.

The students had to pay money and buy stamp papers to get their answer scripts reviewed or scrutinised. In case of a review, the entire paper would be re-examined. But there was no provision to allow students to see their papers. This new system will end this problem.