Tamil Nadu govt in fix over re-exam for Class XII absentees

CHENNAI: Despite completing evaluation of Class XII answer scripts nearly a month ago, the directorate of government examinations (DGE) has not been able to release the results as the state government is undecided about conducting re-exam for 671 students who were absent for the final Class XII exam.
Evaluation of Class XII answer scripts was completed on June 10. While the state government had announced that it would conduct re-exam for 34,864 students who failed to appear for the last exam, only 671 among them were found to have missed just the final paper.The others failed to appear for all exams.
“The department had planned a retest for the 671 candidates on June 25 but the exam was postponed following the complete lockdown imposed in Chennai and neighbouring districts,” a source said.
The government was rethinking its decision to hold a re-exam due to rising Covid cases in Chennai and other districts. “It is yet to decide whether to conduct the re-exam, or withhold the results of these students and release it for others. It is the main cause for the delay,” the source added.
Last week, a new issue cropped up as a few hundred Class XII students had arrears in Class XI chemistry subject. The final exam for Class XI students for subjects including chemistry had been postponed and was cancelled subsequently. It was announced that students would be awarded marks based on their quarterly, half-yearly marks and attendance.
“Collecting records including answer scripts, mark registers and progress reports for Class XI subjects started just now. It will take four or five days to complete,” a district education official said.
Officials concerned have meanwhile, used the delay to verify the Class XII results multiple times.
“Parents and students are anxious to know the results, so they can plan their higher education. They have been waiting for more than three months now. The state government can conduct a supplementary exam for the 671 students after releasing the results,” said N Vijayan, senior principal of Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Tambaram.