Chennai Corporation makes arrangements at Class 10 exam centres

According to an official, the civic body had identified 134 schools, including 70 high schools and higher secondary schools, to be converted into quarantine centres. Of these, 46 have already been converted. “Usually, our students write Class 10 board exams at 23 examination centres (Corporation schools). Due to the COVID-19 situation, all the high schools and higher secondary schools will be used as examination centres (to restrict the number of students at each centre),” the official said.

The official added that beds and cots at the 46 schools would be moved to primary schools. There are 119 primary schools run by the city Corporation. Meanwhile, the education department of the civic body has started enumerating students hailing from the containment areas.

The number of special exam centres would be decided based on the number of vulnerable students. “Apart from identifying the students living in the containment areas, we are also enumerating students whose family members or blood relations had contracted the virus. Once this process is completed, additional examination centres will be created in Corporation middle schools so that these students can write the exams separately,” the official added.

The civic body has also taken measures to operate buses to transport students from containment areas to the examination centres. 

The official also assured that all the 46 schools that have been converted into quarantine centres would be disinfected before preparing them as examination centres. “Though positive persons were not housed at the schools, we will clean them to avoid unnecessary fear among students,” he said. 

More than 6,500 students of Corporation schools are set to write the board exams that are now scheduled to commence on June 15. Also, to train the students for the exam, the civic body is contemplating to set up a studio in the Ripon Building premises, where videos of teachers teaching lessons would be shot and uploaded on YouTube. “Online classes will start from June 1. We have given smartphones to students to attend the class,” the official added.

The Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to start a YouTube channel to conduct classes for the students studying in civic body schools. A Chennai Corporation official said that the live classes are for the students who passed out of Class 9 and 11. "YouTube live classes will benefit the students and teachers in completing the syllabus on time. Delay in starting classes will affect the students who are going to appear for the board exams next year," an official said.

The official added that the students could watch YouTube classes afterwards as the civic body would upload the videos of classes to the streaming platform. As the civic body is concentrating on training the students, who are about to appear for Class 10 board exams, the YouTube live classes would be started after the exams.

"We have also distributed smartphones to the students appearing for the Class 10 exam so that they can participate in online classes. As smartphones are the properties of the civic body, the students will return the phones, which are originally procured for use of the officials'," the official added.