CHENNAI: Yet another assessment reform is underway as the State is planning to change the weightage of total marks for Class XII from 1,200 to 600. The proposal comes right after the School Education Department announced introduction of Board exams in Class XI.
“A consolidated mark sheet, which will have aggregate scores of Class XI and XII, will be given to students on successful completion of their higher secondary course,” said a highly-placed source close to the development told Express on Monday.
The total score would be based on performance in both the Board exams, each out of 600 marks. This would leave the total weightage of the exams unchanged at 1,200. Here it is likely that calculation of cut-off scores for college admissions will remain the same, sources added.
The government is also planning to reduce the Board exam duration from three hours to two hours and thirty minutes. This means, there could be a change in the total number of questions in an exam and marks allotted to each of them.
The move has evoked mixed response from educationists. “Reducing total number of questions would mean covering lesser portions in the syllabus. This would not help increase the evaluation standards,” said K Devarajan, former director of Tamil Nadu government examinations.
Devarajan, who was a member of the exams reforms committee constituted in 2014, said the proposal was not part of the first list of recommendations submitted to the government. “It could have been added recently.”
“This will neither reduce the burden of the teacher, nor the student. They will still have to go through the entire content in textbooks and reference books to score better, irrespective of the total marks,” says educationist Prince Gajendra Babu. He welcomed the move to include Class XI scores for college admissions, as many schools skip them to start Class XII portions early.
Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami and School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan held discussions with officials and members of the exam reforms committee on Monday, said sources. Though a formal announcement was expected on Monday, the meeting continued till late in the evening and the notification was delayed.
What are the proposals
Total marks for Class XII will be reduced from 1200 to 600
A consolidated mark sheet with aggregate scores of Class XI and Class XII
Total score will be based on performances in both the Board exams
This will ensure the total weightage of the exams unchanged at 1,200
Calculation for cut-off scores for college admissions likely to remain
The exam duration will be reduced from three hours to two hours and thirty minutes