Board exams: Perambalur gets it all right

TIRUCHY: Despite being one of the remote districts and described as one of the most backward districts in several terms, Perambalur district was the talk of the town across the state ever since the board exam results were out. Students have created history by securing the highest pass percentage in the state with the district ranking first in class 11 and 12 examinations and second highest in class 10 exams. The district also ranks first in the recently released National Means cum Merit Scholarship (NMMS). What else does a district need to be noted among the masses?

Records say that the district stood almost the lowest rank in the board exam results until 10 years before and it picked up pace after 2011 when the district administration swung into action. Then on, the district secured within the 10 ranks in both classes 10 and 12.

It was the then district collector who coined a system ‘Super 30’ in 2011 with which he roped in dedicated teachers and educationists and asked them to support the students to achieve more. The situation turned good and the efforts yielded fruit thus creating history in the results.

“The achievement was indeed a collective performance by the students as well as the teachers. After the COVID-19 restrictions were withdrawn and the offline classes commenced, we started preparing the students well and formed a 30-member committee to oversee the academic performance of the students who appear for the board examination”, the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) R Arivazhangan told DT Next.

He said that the committee was responsible for preparing questions for weekly tests and the teachers were asked to have individual attention and guide the students. “At least 15 tests were conducted for classes 10 and 12 and we were very particular that the number of pass percentile should be maximum as a minimum number of failures would reflect in the overall result percentage since it is a very small district comparatively”, Arivazhangan said.

The CEO had a time-to-time meeting with the headmasters of each school and reviewed every attempt to ensure pass in the board exam and suggestions were given wherever it was needed. “In some schools, the students lacked motivation. So, we organised meetings for the teachers and gave motivational training. Each DEO was asked to shoulder their support for the students to do well exemplarily”, Arivazhagan said. And we tasted the result as expected.