TN cancels Std X board exams, promotes all students

The class 10 board examinations in Tamil Nadu are cancelled and students are promoted in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced in Chennai on Tuesday. 

The exams for certain class 11 subjects, which could not be held earlier, were also cancelled. 

While 80 per cent marks would be based on students performance in quarterly and half yearly exams, 20 per cent shall depend on their attendance, he said.

The announcement comes a day after the Madras high court said it cannot put the lives of more than nine lakh students at stake and asked the government to consider postponement of the exams in view of soaring COVID-19 cases. 

Palaniswami said while the government had made preparations to hold exams from June 15 to 25, the matter went to the high court which asked the dispensation to take a relook at holding exams in view of the soaring COVID-19 cases and the government made a detailed study of the matter. 

"Under the present circumstances, coronavirus cases are on the rise continuously in Chennai and some districts. Epidemiologists have opined that there is no scope for reduction in the spread of the virus in a short period of time," he said in a televised address. 

Hence, considering the representation of parents, the present trend of virus spread, and to protect students from the pathogen, board examinations scheduled for 10th class, and for subjects that could not be conducted for 11th standard, are fully cancelled and students are declared promoted, the chief minister said. 

The subjects for which exams could not be held for class 11 include chemistry and accountancy. 

The supplementary and arrear exams for 12th standard students are postponed and fresh dates will be announced later, he added. 

The Tamil Nadu government had on Monday informed the Madras high court that the present schedule for holding class X Board exams from June 15 was the right time as experts' opinions published in news reports forecast COVID-19 cases in the state might rise up to two lakh in the coming days. 

Hearing a petition by a teachers' association challenging the government's decision to conduct the exams amid the pandemic, a division bench of justices Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar made it clear it was prima facie convinced that the state has to be restrained from going ahead with the schedule. 

However, the bench restrained itself from passing any interim order and adjourned the hearing to June 11, directing the state to inform the court of its stand.