Exam date announced for classes 4-9, question paper yet to be prepared

CHENNAI: As the School Education Department (SED) has announced April 28 to be the last working day for the academic year 2022-23, teachers are gearing up to prepare question papers and schedule an exam timetable.

Teachers and respective district education officers are in dilemma over conducting final exams for students of classes between 4 and 9 due to lack of planning and last-minute announcement from SED.

Meanwhile, the final exam for classes 1 to 3 will have assessment both online and offline, which is to be held between April 17 and 21. In the case of final exams for other classes, each district has been announcing the exam dates.

For Tiruvarur district, exams will begin on April 11 with Tamil language paper, and the last exam in social science has been scheduled on April 24.

In Nagapattinam, the department is yet to fix an exam date. A government school teacher in the district said, “After April 28 was announced as the last date, the SED has instructed all districts to conduct exams between April 10 and 28. In Nagapattinam, it’s yet to fix the date and discussions for the same are still underway.”

While it’s a routine for government and government-aided schools across TN to follow the same timetable in middle and high schools for classes 4 to 8 and 6 to 9 respectively, this year it has been disrupted. “It’s common for the timetable to be announced early and the same being published in the media. But this year, the routine was disrupted causing commotion,” pointed out a government school teacher.