CHENNAI: The Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) is gearing up for the exams marathon in which over 26.93 lakh students from classes 10, 11 and 12 will appear for public exams in the course of 51 days.
With the usual class 10 and 12 exams, the state government has converted the class 11 exam as the public exam from this academic year. It has extended the examination calendar from around 40 days to 51 days.
“Over 8.61 lakh students have registered for class 11 exams. Last year we had 18 exam days for class 10 and 12 students. It has now increased to 29 exam days,” sources said.
Around one lakh teachers from across the state will be involved in the examination related works.
As per the schedule, the class 12 board exams will start on March 1 and end on April 16. The class 11 board exams start on March 7 and it will conclude on April 16 and class 10 exams held from March 16 to April 20.
The total marks for the classes 11 and 12 were reduced to 600 from 1,200. The exam hours also reduced from three hours to two and half hours.
Due to Neet (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) based admission to the medical courses, the pressure on the invigilation officers is expected to be lesser this time.
“Still, strict rules which were enforced last year to curb malpractices in private schools last year will be implemented fully. The invigilators will not be allowed to carry cell phones to exam halls and certain pockets will have additional or permanent flying squads in place for the public exams,” a source said.
The exam schedule was devised in such a way that there was not any overlapping of exams for these three classes. But, evaluation of answer scripts will be a nightmare as the teachers have to correct over 2 crore answer sheets.
But the officials are confident that they can conduct the exams incidents free.
“Currently, almost all the arrangements are in place for the public exams.”
The coordination meeting for chief educational officers is likely to take place in Madurai on February 9.
Practical exams for class 12 are starting on Thursday. They will be held from February 1 to 14. The class 11 practical exams will start on February 15 and conclude on February 28. Over 10 lakh students are expected to take part in the practical exams.
