Academicians seek semester system for State board too

The CBSE announced that the 2021-22 academic session for Classes 10 and 12 would be split into two terms with 50 per cent syllabus in each. The first-semester exam would be conducted in November-December and the next one in March-April. “Semester system at school level will ease the stress on both teachers and students, as their burden to cover full portions will be drastically reduced.

Therefore, it can be introduced in the State board schools also,” said PK Ilamaran, president, Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association. Teachers would be able to cover portions on time if semester system was introduced in the schools, he said. “Many teachers tend to not finish the portions until annual exams,” he added. Hailing the CBSE’s decision, KR Nandhakumar, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Private Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher Secondary, and CBSE Schools’ Association, said, “Apart from reducing the stress on students and teachers, the performance of students in the exams will be better as they need to cover only 50 per cent of portion in each exam session.

“Teachers would also be able to judge students’ performance in the first semester itself, which would enable teachers to concentrate more on students who perform poorly,” added Nandhakumar, who is also the principal of a private school in city. RC Saraswathi, a national award-winning teacher and principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Ashok Nagar, welcomed the idea. “The semester system will be very useful, especially during the pandemic situation like this.

Also, portions would be less if the exams are conducted in two terms,” she said. However, S Arumainathan, president, Tamil Nadu Parents-Teachers Welfare Association, said if the semester system was introduced for board exam students, both State and the Union government should ensure that there were no entrance exams of any kind for getting admission to higher educational institutions.

“If there is a semester system at the school level, students would forget portions of first exams and try to concentrate only be on the final exam. The performance of the students in the entrance exam for higher studies will be poor, as the questions for the entrance exams will be asked from whole portions of Class 12,” he contended.