CHENNAI: For the first time ever, Tamil Nadu will not release the list of toppers in the Class XII board exams, which will be announced on Friday, on the lines of Central Board of Secondary Education. “We believe that this move will take off the pressure from students who fear losing even a single mark for their ranks,” said school education minister K A Sengottaiyan after holding talks with a high-level expert committee here on Thursday.
After the announcement, experts and students had raised two major concerns - whether grading system would take its place till Class X and if toppers would continue to receive scholarship benefits. Highly placed government sources told Express that they never intended to introduce a grading system right from time an exam reforms committees was formed. “Grading would still pressure students as every mark would still count in the sense that a student who scored 81 would fall under grade ‘A’, while a student who scored 80, under grade ‘B’,” the source added.
Throwing light on concerns related to scholarships, a senior school education department official said that Tamil medium students, particularly those from economically backward sections, will continue to get government aid and a separate government order was likely to be passed in this regard. Officials also said support would be extended not only based on their academic performance but also other skills.
Meanwhile, a proposal to consider Class XI scores for college admission is awaiting administrative sanction from the Chief Minister. Express had already reported that the State government was planning to introduce board exams for Class XI students. This indicates that a common score card would be distributed to State board students upon completion of their higher education course. The move, educationists say, could be a major setback for private schools who use toppers from their institutes to mint money.
Class XI scores to be considered for college seats?
A proposal to consider Class XI scores for college admission is awaiting administrative sanction from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. It was also learnt that a formal announcement on STEM-based syllabus is likely to be made after Class X results are released