CHENNAI: Schools in Tamil Nadu have been instructed not to prepare SSLC student nominal rolls from private browsing centres for security reasons.
The SSLC exam for this academic year is scheduled to begin by March, 2017. Since more than 12 lakh students are expected to appear this time, preparatory works have begun as early as six months before the exam. As part of this, the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examinations (TNDGE) has instructed schools across the State to prepare students’ nominal roll.
This will include the students’ name along with their initials, age, sex and other personal details. Two years ago, the entire process was made digital to eliminate the use of papers and mistakes. Since most rural schools do not have high-speed internet connectivity on campus, teachers preferred to approach the nearest private internet browsing centres for preparing the roll. It was not only the internet speed, but also shortage of computers. “Among all non-academic activities entrusted to us and several holidays, we were asked to submit the roll comprising details of more than nearly 600 students within a short span,” said a government school teacher requesting anonymity. “As one would expect, we depend on private internet parlours in the vicinity,” the teacher added.
However, the TNDGE officials have a different view. A senior official from the department opined that using private internet cafes increased the chance of data leak and to prevent this, we have been instructing schools not to prepare rolls outside the school. A circular has been sent to district educational officials in this regard recently.
Responding to this, a government school teacher said that if they were to depend only on systems available on the school premises, then they had to work on weekends too to submit the roll before the deadline.