Students feel let down as govt’s edu channel fails to finish Class 10 syllabus

Apart from private school candidates, about four lakh students and over two lakh students from government and government-aided schools respectively will be appearing for Class 10 board exams across the State during this academic year. The exams, which were scheduled from March 17 to April 13, has been postponed due to the extension of lockdown till April 14. 

Utilising technology, many private schools across the State have started online training for students to complete the pending portions before the exams begin. Online classes include creating groups, connecting teachers and students through social media, uploading video class sessions and text messages through mobile and email.

As the School Education Department had already launched a 24X7 educational channel titled “Kalvi Tholaikkatchi”, many Class 10 government school students and even teachers were expecting that there would be special programmes telecasted in that channel to complete all the portions. However, the student’s expectations could not be fulfilled as the channel is at present providing only the usual programmes. Adding to the woes, the State-run educational channel could not be viewed in most of the Direct to Home (DTH) .

“It is totally disappointing. We thought that the government would have made arrangements to telecast special live programmes related to our subjects. But nothing could be seen as such,” S Kalaivani, a Class 10 student from a government-aided school in Pallavaram said. She also claimed that though the channel could be seen in YouTube, the subscription process is complicated.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DTNext that no one had expected that a situation of total lockdown will arise due to Coronavirus. “We were not fully prepared due to the sudden shutdown,” he added.

He also hinted that following request and feedback from the teachers and the parents, authorities were discussing to postpone the exams to the end of May so that the leftover portions will be covered once the school reopens.