Chennai: The department of school education announced on Tuesday that the board exam duration for classes 10,11 and 12 will be increased from two and a half hours to three hours this year. The decision comes after several students, teachers and educationalists demanded for a time extension following the implementation of revised curriculum for classes (2,7,10 and 12) this academic year.
The students of classes 10, 11 and 12 will now get three hours to write the exams, 10 minutes for reading the question paper while five minutes will be provided for verifying the particulars of the candidates. The examination will commence at 10 am and end at 1.15 pm.
At present, the class 10 examination is conducted for a total of 500 marks, while 600 is the total marks for class 11 and class 12 exams. While the students of class 10 are allotted two hours and 45 minutes for their examination(out of which 15 minutes are for reading the question paper), class 11 and 12 students are given two and a half hours to complete the paper.
Terming this a 'welcome decision', P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, General secretary, state platform for common school system-Tamil Nadu opined,” The adequate time for any exam depends on the number of questions and the length of the answers to them. Having said that, the extra time allotment is a good move as it will provide children more time to comprehend the questions.”
The department of school education identified the need for reconstruction of the curriculum in 2017, following which committees and sub-committees for curriculum development were constituted. A government order (GO) dated July 22, 2017, hinted at a number of significant alterations to the existing education system ranging from incorporating the use of technology in learning, eliminating rote learning to some major changes in the higher secondary education. The reforms included changing the minimum pass percentage to 35 per cent, shortening of the exam duration to two and a half hours from three hours, equal weightage for both 11th and 12th boards, 10 per cent marks allotment for internal assessments and an option for students to choose their subjects of study for board exams.
While the syllabus for classes 1,6,9 and 11 was revised last year, the curriculum for classes 2,7,10 and 12 was modified this academic year. The syllabus revision came after almost 9 years for classes 1-10 and after 12 years for higher secondary classes.
