TIRUCHY: As part of its efforts to acclimatise students of Government Tribal Residential Schools (GTR) to board exam environment, the tribal welfare department, in coordination with school education department, reintroduced the common evaluation system for Class 10 and 12 half-yearly examinations which ended on Tuesday.
Officials in the tribal welfare department said this will make students familiar with board exam standards. As part of the new framework, question papers are set by the education department and are common for all schools within each district, while answer scripts of GTR will be evaluated statewide in line with public examination standards.
The decision was taken by the Adi Dravidar tribal welfare department to improve performance of students. The system, reintroduced after nearly a decade, is being implemented for the first time this academic year and is aimed at improving exam preparedness, and increasing pass percentages.
In Tiruchy district, the new evaluation model has been implemented in three government tribal residential schools - Top Sengattupatti Higher Secondary School, Chinna Iluppur Higher Secondary School, and Sembuluchampatti High School. About 100 students in Class 10 and over 70 students in Class 12 are currently studying in these schools and appeared for the half-yearly examinations under the revised system.
"It gives a clear picture of students' learning levels and exam readiness," a senior official said. The evaluation will help teachers identify slow learners and understand students' strengths and weaknesses in each subject. Based on the results, schools will provide extra support to help the students improve overall performance.
The reform is also linked to efforts to prepare tribal students for competitive and national-level entrance examinations, including JEE, NEET, common entrance tests, and law admissions. Officials noted that in recent years, students from tribal residential schools in Tiruchy have secured admissions to national institutions, underscoring the need for stronger academic grounding.
Rengaraj, Tribal Welfare Planning Officer, Tiruchy, said the initiative would strengthen students' foundations. "Early exposure to public exam-style evaluation helps students gain confidence and improves performance," he said.