Stress, confusion mark first offline Board exam in 2 years

... but students say language paper was easy, relieved to break the tag of ‘pandemic batch’
Students waiting outside the examination halls of Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Ashok Nagar in Chennai on Thursday morning. (Photo | R Satish Babu, EPS)
Students waiting outside the examination halls of Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Ashok Nagar in Chennai on Thursday morning. (Photo | R Satish Babu, EPS)

CHENNAI: Stress was writ large on G Aakash’s face as he was waiting outside an exam centre in Velachery. The Class 12 student was biting his nails and restlessly flipping through the pages of his book.

But, almost all students waiting outside the centre were in a similar state of mind as they are facing an offline board exam for the first time. They couldn’t physically appear for their Class 10 exam owing to the pandemic. “Board exams are scary and I am writing one for the first time. I am so nervous that I cannot express it in words,” said Aakash.

Students at Presidency Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Egmore said they attended physical classes for only three months, so they were not confident about attempting the paper. “Though some portions of the syllabus were reduced, the revision tests were not done properly. Moreover, I am worried if I would be able to finish my paper in time,” said C Lekha Sri, a student.

After the exams, however, the students were in better spirits as many said the language paper was easy. “It was language paper (Tamil) and the questions were really easy. I managed to write all the answers,” said Shalini K.

“After writing today’s paper, I am confident that I will be able to perform well in other exams as well,” said S Saravanan. Some students were also happy to break the ‘pandemic batch’ tag, often used to mock students who had not appeared for physical classes and exams. A total of 8,37,311 students appeared for the exam in 3,119 centres across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

At least 63 inmates, including seven women, from central prisons, special prisons for women, and borstal school in Pudukkottai appeared for the board exam across the state. The State examination department had set up exam centres across the eight central prisons in the State.

Chief Educational Officer of Chennai S Mars said: “The first day of examination was smooth. No case of malpractice was reported.”

63 inmates attempt Class 12 exam in TN
About 63 inmates, including seven women, from central prisons, special prisons for women, and borstal school in Pudukkottai appeared for the board exam across the state. The State examination department had set up exam centres across the eight central prisons in the State. Chennai CEO said the first day of the exams went smoothly

(With inputs from Subashini Vijayakumar)

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