CHENNAI: Despite demands for cancellation of half-yearly school exams, the school education department on Friday announced the exams would be held from January 11 for all classes.
Schools, mainly in Chennai and nearby districts, were closed for nearly 30 days since Deepavali because of torrential rains. In a few southern districts schools were closed for many days this month because of rains. While it was anticipated that the half-yearly exams usually in December would be cancelled, the school education department’s circular laid to rest such hopes.
“Most of the syllabus for Class X and XII have already been covered by the schools. So these exams will help them prepare for the public exams,” said S Kannappan, director, School Education, while speaking to Express. Practicals will be before the theory papers.
However, the Tamil Nadu Students Parents Welfare Association objected to the decision saying the students and the parents were mentally not prepared for exams yet. “The school education department should re-consider the decision. After the historic rains, students, parents and even teachers are mentally disturbed. They need time to overcome this. Further burdening them with exams is not wise,” said S Arumainathan, the association’s president.
He said that the association had already wanted a committee of parents, teachers and educationists for talks before taking a decision. When queried about the demand, the school education department officials said there was still enough time for students to prepare.
“Students and teachers have been counselled since the schools were reopened in all flood-hit districts. So far, in Chennai and Cuddalore districts alone the mobile teams covered 150 schools and counselled more than 50,000 students,” said Kannappan.
On Friday, the department released the complete schedule of exams that end on January 27. However, officials said there would be no changes to the Christmas holidays for schools.