The Punjab School Education Board, Mohali, will introduce the semester system for Classes IX and XI from the new academic session beginning 2009.

The first semester is expected to be shorter than the second. The system will be mandatory for all government, private, aided and recognised schools affiliated to the PSEB.

PSEB Chairman Dalbir Singh Dhillon said: “We are introducing the semester system on the pattern of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi to lighten the stress on students. The syllabus will be split into two semesters and therefore, they will feel less burdened.”

The first semester will begin after the summer vacations, from July to November, and the second one will start from November to March. Dhillon said, “We are yet to decide the exact dates to introduce the system in these months.”

Experts say it will be a tough task to implement the system in the wake of more than 40,000 teachers’ posts lying vacant in government schools. The principal of a government school said: “It will certainly be difficult, many teachers are already overburdened. With the semester system, the workload will remain the same but there will be a lot more pressure on teachers.”

Punjab Teachers’ Union president Baldev Singh Mangat said: “The semester system is indeed a good step but the government should first fill up the vacant posts.”