TIRUCHY: Three government-run residential tribal schools in the district continued their long-standing record of strong performances in the Class 10 public examinations with a student from a remote tribal hamlet in the Pachamalai hills of Tiruchy emerging as the state topper.
S Santhoshkumar of the Government Tribal Welfare Residential High School at Sembulichampatti scored 483 out of 500 in the SSLC examination, including 96 in Tamil, 94 in English, 99 in Mathematics, 96 in Science and 98 in Social Science. He has expressed interest in pursuing higher secondary education in a model school with the aim of joining premier institutions such as IIT, the headmaster said. He scored the highest marks among 67 tribal welfare schools’ students functioning across Tamil Nadu, according to school education authorities. The achievement comes amid all three tribal welfare residential schools in Tiruchy district recording 100% pass in SSLC examinations this year, while the two higher secondary schools also secured 100% results in Class 12 examinations.
Headmaster K Periyasamy said all 14 students who appeared for the SSLC examination from Sembulichampatti school passed. Since 28 years, the school which was upgraded into a high school in 1997, has achieved 100% pass in 27 years. He attributed the consistent performances to the residential school system, continuous academic monitoring and dedicated involvement of teachers.
“Since it is a residential school, students attend special classes from early morning till evening. Teachers continuously monitor their performance through regular tests and focus individually on each student,” he said.
Periyasamy added that most students come from tribal villages including Manalodai, Thaloor, Melur, Maruthai, Ramanathapuram, Erikadu and Erumaipatti in Pachamalai hills, where many parents work as farmers, agricultural labourers or depend on collecting forest produce for livelihood.
At Chinna Iluppur Tribal Welfare Residential Higher Secondary School, all 28 students cleared the SSLC examination. Several students from both schools scored above 450 marks, while centums were secured in Mathematics and Social Science. Headmaster P Arjuelvam said the tribal welfare schools build strong subject fundamentals from Class 6 and train students for exams such as National Means cum Merit Scholarship (NMMS), helping them handle Classes 10 and 12 public examinations with confidence. “Students are given continuous coaching, regular assessments and individual attention in every subject,” he said.
He added that over the past three years, around 25 students from the school cleared JEE Main, nine qualified for JEE Advanced, two secured admission in institutions including NIT Tiruchy, while another cleared CLAT and joined the Tamil Nadu National Law University in Tiruchy.
The Government Tribal Welfare Residential Higher Secondary School at Top Sengattupatti also recorded 100% pass, with all 39 students clearing the SSLC examination.
