CHENNAI/CUDDALORE/KARUR: n what came as a major relief, the State government on Tuesday announced cancellation of Class-X board examinations for this academic year. Both government and private school managements have now decided to use the semester and internal examination scores to evaluate students’ performance. The decision has been welcomed by most stakeholders.
A senior official from the Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) told Express that in evaluation, 80 per cent weightage will be given to the quarterly and half-yearly examinations and 20 per cent for attendance. The government has not issued any guidelines for private candidates who had applied for the exam. “We will issue instructions for private candidates later,” the official said. The Director of DGE, Usha Rani, in a letter to all district Chief Education Officers, however, instructed that they should ensure that question papers printed for Class X students shall continue being protected with armed guards.
Many teachers and parents feel that had the decision come a few days earlier, lakhs would not have stepped out for duties and collection of hall tickets. “After we were asked to report to work from Monday, many teachers had to come from other districts. Hence, they had to take an e-pass and look for a place to stay temporarily. Additionally, there was also a fear of contracting the virus. Why did they wait till the last minute to cancel it,” asks a teacher from Kurinjipadi. Sources say a few teachers who travelled out of districts are now under quarantine.
“My daughter and I rushed to the school on Monday to collect the hall-ticket. We could have avoided that had they decided earlier on the cancellation. We unnecessarily took the risk of stepping out,” says Indra, mother of Class X student from Cuddalore.
Admissions into Class XI
Currently there is no clarity on how admissions into Class XI would be made. As the government has said that it will be too early to take a decision on reopening schools, admissions into government schools may be delayed. Even as the government has said that schools should not compel parents to pay the fees for the next academic year, many private schools have already started the admission process for most classes except Class XI.“Based on the students’ interest and the subject scores in internal assessments, we may start admissions for students who are already in our school. We do not have clarity on new admissions yet,” said the headmistress of a matriculation school in the city. She added that teachers may actually start Class XI curriculum online once the administrative work is sorted out. KR Nandhakumar of a private school teachers association said, “We will discuss with the School Education Minister and officials to get guidelines on admissions. We are ready to start admissions now,” he said. It is difficult to pay teachers and other staff members without collecting admission fees for the upcoming academic year.
‘Not a fair deal’
Not everyone are happy with the system the government has decided, especially the students. “We are the first set to handle this new syllabus,” points out Joshwaa of Karur, who is in Class X.
“We are relieved with the cancellation, but the idea of using our quarterly and mid-term scores is bad. Many of us could not give our best in the intermediate exams, and were hoping to do better in Boards. Many teachers deliberately kept our scores low, so that we learn harder and perform better in the finals.
We are disappointed.”
Arul Selvan, parent of a Class X student told “Majority of the Class X students didn’t perform well in quarterly and half-yearly. Because of the teachers who rushed the syllabus and finished the whole book within a few days, the students weren’t able to understand. This resulted in poor performance in those exams. The board exams were their only hope and the students were gearing up for it.”
S Kumaran, Headmaster of Avathipalayam Government High School in Namakkal district, said the students choosing diploma or polytechnic courses would face difficulties now. “Class X marks add value when choosing a diploma or polytechnic course. We cannot understand the talents of a student.”
Free drop of PwD students, special teachers
Students with disabilities and special teachers who had been dropped at their respective institutions for their Class X and XI Board exams, through the special buses arranged by the State government, are to be sent back to their home towns.
According to an official release, students are to be sent to their home towns from 8 am on Wednesday according to the bus schedules that have been communicated to all District Differently Abled Welfare Officers and Head of the Education Institution.
Sushmitha Ramakrishnan, Nirupa Sampath, Aravind Raj
(With inputs from Coimbatore and Madurai)