Govt decision on holding board exams for Class 11 students soon

With the Tamil Nadu government already deciding to conduct board exams for Classes 10 and 12 in April or May, the School Education Department is in the process of discussing whether to conduct a common exam this year for Class 11.

In a major reform, the state government had introduced board exams for Class 11 students from 2017-18 with over eight lakh students appearing for it. However, due to total lockdown, the board exams could be conducted for Class 11 last year along with Classes 10 and 12.

A senior official from the School Education Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that the schools reopened only from Feb 1 and the teachers are concentrating on completing the syllabus for Classes 10 and 12 since the government has not officially announced the conducting of board exams for Class 11 students.

“In addition, the authorities were also of the opinion that the present Class 11 students did not have exams from Class 9,” he said adding “suddenly conducting board exam might put pressure on them”.

Moreover, conducting revision tests were not also planned for Class 11 students. Without that students will be clueless on the question paper model.

“Most of the schools, especially government institutions, have not completed the portions for Class 11 students”, he said adding “at this juncture, if we conduct exams, many students might flunk”.

He said accordingly, a detailed review meeting will be conducted soon to discuss all the issues about conducting board exams for Class 11 students.

However, the official said the exam authorities were also discussing whether to conduct Class 11 exams at the school level so that the students will also be qualified for the next standard.

Urging the state government not to cancel the board exams for Class 11 students, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association president PK Ilamaran pointed out that most of the private schools will indulge in teaching Class 12 subjects in Class 11 to improve the results. “Due to pandemic, the government may cancel the board exam for them, but it should not be canceled permanently,” he opined.