The new academic session (2021-22) for Plus II will continue with 70 per cent syllabus in Odisha. The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) on Thursday also placed a proposal before the State government for conduct of quarterly assessment of students in case final examinations at higher secondary level are scrapped for any reason.

CHSE Vice Chairman Tushar Kanti Tripathy said the decision to continue with the reduced syllabus was taken at the academic committee meeting of the Council in view of the delay in commencement of the academic session for the second consecutive year due to COVID-19 pandemic. 

While the new session for Plus II final year students started towards the end of July, admission process for Plus II first year has not been completed yet. Keeping this in view the committee took the decision to continue with the revised syllabus, Tripathy said. 

Besides, he said the committee proposed the government to introduce periodical assessment every quarter as part of the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system as it will help in awarding marks to students in case the final examinations are cancelled for any other reason.

Under CCE, the committee has proposed to conduct quarterly assessment of students by higher secondary schools four times in the first year and thrice in the second year after which the annual Plus II examinations will be conducted by the Council. "It, however, will be subject to government approval," the CHSE vice chairman said.

Earlier state governments of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Gujarat decided to cut the syllabus by as much as 35 per cent.