Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn its decision to conduct public exams for students of classes 5 and 8 that were scheduled to be held in March and April. The education department has asked school authorities to follow their usual examination models.
In a statement, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan said, “After receiving several representations from the public, we have decided to cancel the earlier government order to conduct examinations for students of classes 5 and 8. We will follow the regular existing system of exams.”
On September 13 last year, the government had declared the conduct of public exams for government schools and private matriculation school students of classes 5 and 8 (of 2019-2020 batch) as it felt it was necessary to assess the students’ learning ability and the results would not be published.
An exam fee of Rs 100 and Rs 200 for students of classes 5 and 8, respectively, was fixed by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Elementary Education. The students were required to appear for the examinations at allotted centres.
However, the decision was faced with criticism from several quarters following which the government decided to rollback its decision.
As students have different sets of textbooks for each semester, a sudden change in the examination pattern triggered fear among students and parents. Many teachers felt students may not be able to handle the “sudden stress”.
Opposition parties, led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), also lashed out at the Edappadi Palaniswami government for adding more stress on students.
Even leaders of the Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an ally of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), urged the government to withdraw its decision.
(With inputs from S Annette Beryl Elizabeth)
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