Officials, flying squads visit exam centres

Addressing the media at the venue, Sengottaiyan said, “Due to the various Government schemes for students,  the enrolment rate in the State has seen a rise. When compared to last year, 65,000 more students are taking the exams this year. We are conducting the exams for ten languages.” 

On Thursday the students wrote exams in Tamil, Hindi, French, German, Sanskrit, Telugu, Malayalam, Arabic and Urdu, among other languages. Chief Education Officer Anitha said, “The day went off smoothly without any untoward incidents. There are no sensitive centres in the city. 

The official inspected all the centres.” Flying squads conducted random checks across the city intermittently. One of the flying Squad members, Tamil Selvan who was stationed at Periasamy Higher Secondary School in Gandhi Road, Velachery said, “More than 528 students from two schools are writing the exam here. 

One boy who is suffering from chicken pox was given a special room in order to prevent spread of the infection. Parents had informed in advance and we made arrangements”. 

According to District Education Officer Parimala who arrived to inspect the centre said, at each centre a three-member squad is deployed to ensure security. There are 33 rooms here and each officer will look after 10 classrooms. The DEO’s are expected to visit maximum number of centres during the exam. 

Parents anxiously waited outside the exam centres and on the road as the school buildings were cordoned off for visitors.  Priya Karthik, whose daughter Prithika studies in Maharishi Vidya Mandir (MVM) school in Chetpet is writing her exam at Presidency School, Egmore, said “My daughter referred 13 question papers and has studied using various question banks. Being the first day we arrived as early as 7 45 am at the centre.”