Cancellation of board exams brings relief but marks system not popular
Teachers, parent, academicians and even students, who were gripped by the threat of coronavirus heaved a sigh of relief after the government cancelled the Class 10 board examinations.
migrator
Chennai
Students and teachers of government and government-aided schools were particularly worried as they could complete the portions before the lockdown began in March.
However, the government’s decision to award 80 per cent marks based on quarterly and half-yearly exams and the rest based on students’ attendance was not welcomed unanimously.
“The State’s decision to cancel the exam was good considering the seriousness of the virus threat. It brought relief to students and parents alike,” general secretary of State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), PB Prince Gajendra Babu, told DT Next.
According to him, the government should also issue guidelines to all schools to admit students for higher education according to their choice.
Echoing similar views, Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association president PK Ilamaran said, “We have been insisting the government to cancel board exams since the lockdown began.”
“The Chief Minister’s decision will bring relief to several thousand government school teachers as most of them could not complete the portions on time,” Illamaran, who is also a teacher in government higher secondary school at Kodangaiyur, added.
Lauding the government decision, B Valarmathi, a housewife in Pallavaram, said that she was afraid to send her daughter to attend exams. “As many areas were declared containment areas, I would not have sent my daughter for the exam,” she said, adding that the government should have not taken this long to come to this decision.
S Purushothaman, a member of the parents-teachers association in Tambaram, said that the government should also monitor the admission process, especially to private schools. “The authorities should ask the schools to offer the course according to the choice of students and there should not be any disparity,” he added.
Admission without exams
There are about 8,000 government, government-aided and private higher secondary schools across the State. “Admission process will not be very difficult as the overall pass percentage every year is over 92 per cent,” Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu secretary DC Elangovan said. As all schools would have maintained details regarding attendance and exams, it would not be difficult to calculate the marks, he added.
Malathi Balakrishnan, director of Sankara Public School Group in the city, said marks will play a crucial role if the number of students applying for a particular course is higher than its capacity. She said accommodating more students won’t be an issue as most private schools have better infrastructure.
“I had prepared well for the board exams as I did not perform well in the half-yearly exams. I went for tuition, too. The government decision to allocate marks based on previous exams will affect many students like me,” Dhanasekaran S, a Class 10 private school student said.
He urged the government to instruct all schools, especially private institutions, to allocate courses according to students’ choices.
K Hemalatha, another Class 10 student of a government-aided school at Anakaputhur, said “I scored more than 80 per cent in the half-yearly exams and I prepared even better aiming for 90% in the boards. But unfortunately, it will not happen.”
Stating that she would be taking the Science stream, Hemalatha also hailed government decision to cancel the exams and said that her parents were scared to send her to the exam centre.
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