K A Sengottaiyan justifies public exams for clasess 5 to 8

CHENNAI: School Education Minister K. A. Sengottaiyan justified the introduction of public examination for classes 5 to 8 and said students of private schools have been writing exams from LKG to Plus-2 in order to qualify for the next standard.

“I appeal to the parents and those criticising this new system to ponder why none complained of stress for their children studying in private schools, where they have to write annual exam from LKG till Plus-2. When you can accept this pattern, why not the public examination proposed for classes 5 to 8?” the minister asked.

Averring that the government has to also keep in mind the interests and wellbeing of the poor students, Mr. Sengottaiyan said the State can’t isolated itself and refuse to progress especially when changes happen around. “We can’t remain cut off when the Centre changes its education policy and other States reorient their policies. We need to compare with the education systems in other states and take into account the changes brought by the Centre,” he stressed on Saturday.

Though TN was to have introduced public exams from 5 to 8th  standards,  due to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s magnanimity, TN has been granted three years’ exemption. Speaking to reporters in Madurai, Mr. Sengottaiyan said given the size of student population the Finland system of education may be difficult to follow in the State. For instance, TN has about 1.36 crore school students besides 8 lakhs pursuing higher education.

“As far as I am concerned, the syllabus has been devised based on the aspirations of the students. They have been given the option to study five or six subjects to opt for medicine or engineering field. So, they need to prepare for a total of 500 or 600 marks,” the Minister said and added the countries like Finland does not have public exams but enforce skill training from 9th standard.

After returning from Finland, he had discussed about the education system there, with CM, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and senior Ministers on several issues including imparting technical skills to students. “We lack infrastructure… probably the infrastructure available with the private sector could be utilised to provide the skills to students on holidays,” he added.

Also, steps will be taken to provide shoes to school students from next year and to launch a second channel of education TV.