CHENNAI: The number of students,who took Class 10 State Board exams, has declined by 10 per cent from 11.19 lakh students in 2013 to 10.01 lakh this year. This hints that there is a prominent migration of students to CBSE. The Central government data reveals that the number of students, who wrote the CBSE Class 10 exams, tripled between 2010 and 2016.
The rate of decline has increased rapidly over the last couple of years because of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). This also means that a lesser number of CBSE students migrate to the State Board after completing Class 10.Ever since the introduction of the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010 or ‘Samacheer Kalvi’, many private matriculation schools have turned into CBSE schools, observed the principal of a private CBSE school in Chennai.
“Schools had the option of either adopting the State Board syllabus or moving to CBSE standard. This was the time when the number of CBSE schools in Chennai increased,” the principal said.This migration has created a perception that students have to study hard to crack competitive exams, opines Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System. “Since NEET came into the picture, students are studying only to crack these Central competitive exams. Which good educational system will motivate students to study only to crack exams?” he asked.
The School Education department too has revamped both syllabus and question paper pattern to ensure that students can crack these competitive exams. “We want even State Board students to have an equal capacity to crack competitive exams. We’ve been planning this revamp since 2011,” said Vasundradevi, Director of Government Examinations.
Refreshment seller shines among his peers
Tiruchy: Fourteen-year-old K Chandru (pic), who once sold refreshments near playgrounds to generate extra money for his family, has now emerged first in school. He scored 374 out of 500 among 17 others rescued by the Child Labour Elimination and Effective Rehabilitation Society (CHEERS) in the district. The boy, the eldest of five children, had to bear the family’s financial burden. “My family was in debt and I had no better option than to discontinue my studies and work,” Chandru said.
His father, A Kumar (37), is a painter who gets jobs off and on. Chandru’s mother, K Fathima (35), is a sanitation worker in a city-based college. “Due to my poverty, my parents did not force me to go to school,” Chandru said. CHEERS officials spotted the boy working during a survey in the locality. Soon, he was admitted to a special training centre (STC) near Khajapettai and then to R C Boys Higher Secondary School near here. He said that his parents were striving hard to make ends meet after he was sent to school.