No respite, Class 11 also to be board exam

A total of 10 lakh students who wrote the Class 10 examinations are likely to appear for the Class 11 boards next year. “The final details pertaining to the matter will be released in two days. These tests will be similar to the Class 10 and 12 examinations,” a senior official from the school education department said. 

While the state government has been contemplating the idea for a while, the final push is said to be a fallout of the brain storming session that Sengottaiyan chaired with representatives from over 100 teachers’ associations earlier this month on improving the quality of education in the state. 

Several teachers have already brought to the notice of the state government on how the Class 11 syllabus has been skipped by several schools who proceed directly to the Class 12 syllabus. “Even before teaching the basics, many schools start with the Class 12 syllabus straightway. We also stressed on the need to revamp the syllabus, which was last revived in 2004. Also, it had become necessary to overhaul the system given the NEET controversy, where the state board students were said to be at a disadvantage because the NEET question paper was based on the CBSE syllabus,” said PK Ilamaran, state president, Tamil Nadu Teacher’s Association. He added that this change will force state board schools to take the Class 11 syllabus seriously and students will also understand the basics better. “We welcome and fully support this move,” he said.