CHENNAI: The school education department will under the THIRAN PLUS programme conduct a baseline assessment for students in Classes 2 to 9 in government schools from October 21 to identify learning gaps in language and mathematics. The programme, which was implemented in Classes 6 to 9 last academic year, includes students of Classes 2 to 5 as well now.
Under THIRAN PLUS, targeted remedial support will be extended to cover 10.5 lakh students of Classes 2 to 9 at a cost of `12.05 crore, Minister for School Education A Rajmohan had announced while presenting the demand for grants for the department in the Assembly.
The assessment will be conducted in Tamil on October 21, English on October 22 and mathematics on October 23. All students in Classes 2 to 5 must take the assessment, while at least 40% of students in each class from Classes 6 to 9 must participate.
The assessment will comprise 10 questions and must be completed within 40 minutes. It will test basic skills, including recognising letters and words in Tamil and English, reading and writing simple words and sentences, numbers, reciting multiplication tables, and performing two-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Teachers must conduct the assessment without providing assistance to students, evaluate the answer sheets and maintain records of the marks obtained. The marks must be entered on the EMIS portal between October 24 and October 31. The list of students selected for the THIRAN PLUS programme can then be downloaded from the portal. Students who score less will be given targeted coaching.