Tamil Nadu drops public exams for Classes 5 and 8

New Delhi: In an unexpected development, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday, February 4, revoked the order that requires students of classes 5 and 8 to take public exams. The exams were scheduled to begin from March onwards.

The announcement came as a surprise as the Commissioner for School Education Sigy Thomas had explained the evaluation scheme for the board exams for these two classes just the day before.

In his statement, Tamil Nadu Minister for School Education KA Sengottaiyan said that the decision to withdraw the earlier government order, issued on September 13, has been taken after the government received representations from various stakeholders, The News Minute reported.

‘Tentative decision’

The Tamil Nadu Government , after months of to-and-fro, had announced in September 2019 that students in the state would have to take board exams. The decision had invited flak from the opposition parties.

Sengottaiyan had later clarified to the media that although exams would be conducted, the results wouldn't be published for the first three years after implementation.

The decision followed the amendment to the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE), notified on March 2019, which allowed states to decide whether exams should be held for classes 5 and 8. The amendment was ambiguous about the nature of these exams.

It also allowed states to decide whether failed students should repeat the year or not.

Prior to the amendment, RTE required states to follow a strict no-detention policy which was a ban on making students repeat any year till Class 8.

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