Pvt candidates confused over all-pass declaration

Chennai

According to the announcement made by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday, 80% of marks would be awarded based on their performance in the quarterly and half-yearly exams, and the remaining based on attendance.

Since the announcement was made, calls were pouring in from private candidate to know about their status, a senior official from the Directorate School Education told DT Next on condition of anonymity, adding that the government should have clarified whether private candidates, too, would be declared all-pass.

The statistics from the Directorate of Examination show that 10,742 private candidates had registered to appear for the exam this year. In addition, 23,581 candidates had registered to appear for arrear papers.

“As private candidates do not attend classes, they do not have quarterly or half-yearly exams and therefore marks cannot be calculated based on those performances. So they will have to appear for exams,” said the official. The government would announce the date of exam for private candidates once normalcy was restored, he added.

K Gnanasekaran, a private candidate who had registered to appear for the exams this year, pointed out that most of the private candidates write the test for getting promotion at their job. “They just want to produce minimum pass certificate for promotions; the question of marks does not come into consideration for this purpose. Therefore, the government could declare all-pass for them, too, by giving a course completion certificate,” he added.

Tamil Nadu Teachers Association president PK Ilamaran said many private candidates were in a state of confusion as the government did not come out with comprehensive statement about all-pass status. “The authorities clarify this,” he added.