Chennai: Bringing yet another change into examination system, the directorate of government examinations (DGE) has scrapped private exams held in October for classes 10 and 12 from next academic year (2019-20).
Instead of writing the exam in the middle of the academic year, the private candidates will be allowed to write their exams along with other candidates in June and July instant exams, sources said.
As per the existing method, the candidates who could not clear the board exams in March alone can write the June/July instant exams.
“In the present system, the teachers are employed for exam work throughout the year and it is affecting academic work. We will allow private candidates to write exams in June/July since the number of students appearing for private exams is very less,” said D.Vasundradevi, director of Government Examinations.
For each class, around 40,000 to 50,000 private candidates are applying for the October exams. More than 2,000 teachers will be involved in the examination and evaluation works that would go on for four weeks.
But works like question paper setting, printing the question paper and answer booklets, allotting the exam centres and evaluating answer scripts are very much same when compared with the March board exams where around 18 lakh students are appearing for the exams.
Last year, the state government converted the plus-1 exam into a board exam. Now, additionally, 9 lakh regular students are appearing for the annual board exams.
The Directorate of Government Examinations allots two schools in each district for the private examinations
“Private schools will not accept to be the exam centres for private exams citing that it would affect the academic works. Only the government schools are being used as exam centres. For classes 10 and 12 the exams will be conducted for two weeks and the answer sheets will be evaluated separately. These schools cannot function fully during the exams,” sources in the DGE said.
With additional board exam introduced for plus-1 students, from this academic year all private candidates need to clear the plus-1 public exams to be eligible to write the plus-2 exams.
“Conducting three board exams in a span of one and half months is a logistical nightmare. Then the process is again repeated in October. DGE needs some breathing space,” sources pointed out.
DGE officials argued that clearing the exam in October will not help the students. “They have to wait till next academic year whereas if they cleared in June/July exam, they can join in colleges or schools or polytechnics,” they said.
However, a section of officers criticised the move. “DGE is established to hold exams throughout the year. It will ruin the opportunity of private candidates who if fail in March had preparation time until October. Now, they will have just two months in case if they fail to clear their exams in March,” they said.
Senior educationist S.S. Rajagopal urged the state government to hold discussions before taking any major decision.
“There should be a public discussion with all stakeholders before taking any major decision. The rationale behind the decision needs to be explained. In the proposed method, the students need to wait for almost one year after writing their June/July exams to clear the papers,” he said.
He also said there is a general belief among the candidates that the October exams will be an easier one compared to March exams which prompted the private candidates to apply for October exams.
