Uttar Pradesh education board prepares for revamp after 100 years

File pic: Zee News

Lucknow: As it completes a century next year, the Board of High School and Intermediate Education in UP is all set for a revamp of its Act and regulations. The state government has decided to undertake in-depth scrutiny of the Intermediate Education Act, 1921 that paved the way for the setting up of the UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, as the board is formally known, in 1921.

Today, the board is counted among the largest examination bodies of the world, officials said. The idea is to do away with all outdated or irrelevant provisions of the Act and include new ones, if needed, in keeping with the times.

The move will directly impact around 12.5 million (1.25 crore) students enrolled in over 28,000 schools affiliated to the Board across 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The Board conducted its first exam in 1923 that saw merely 5,655 students appearing in its High School exam and another 89 appearing in its Intermediate exam.

In 2020, the Board witnessed around 5.61 million (56.1 lakh) students appearing in its examinations including 3.02 million in High School and 2.58 million in Intermediate exams.

Director (secondary education) Vinay Kumar Pandey, has set up four panels for the revamp of the Act. These panels have been asked to submit their recommendations within 15 days after undertaking a review of its different sections.

The UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla said that the Board secretary will be heading one panel comprising additional secretary (administration) Shivlal and the additional secretaries of all five regional offices of the UP Board as members.

"This committee will study all sections and submit a proposal with recommended amendments that it deems necessary," he said.

For the scrutiny of section 16 of the Act and making suggestions for changes in it, three separate panels have been formed, headed by joint directors (secondary education) from Jhansi, Bareilly and Ayodhya, respectively.

These four panels will propose changes required in the Act to the state-level committee being headed by the director (secondary education), which will then go through all recommendations before submitting a final proposal to the state government, officials said.