Education activists in Coimbatore have welcomed the cancellation of public examination for Classes V and VIII, while stressing that the announcement should have been made earlier.

Special classes

T. Arulanandam, State body member of Tamil Nadu High Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers’ Association, said that the announcement came after the preliminary works for the examinations such as particulars of students in the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) portal have been completed in schools. Apart from this, special classes were held for Classes V to VIII since November 2019, he said.

“The teachers in government schools are burdened with work already,” he said, expressing hope that some of the work load might be reduced with this cancellation of examinations. The Association had petitioned Commissioner of School Education Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan in December 2019 in this regard, Mr. Arulanandam recalled.

The State government did not think through the impact of conducting examinations for young students, alleged V. Eswaran, education activist and secretary of MDMK’s state youth wing.

Quality of education

“They have cancelled it only because of the opposition to the original announcement and not because of how it would affect students,” he alleged. Mr. Eswaran urged the Department of School Education to improve the quality of education in government schools to enhance the students’ performance as opposed to conducting more examinations.

“If held, these examinations would have increased the number of dropouts in government schools,” he claimed.

Coimbatore Chief Education Officer P. Ayyanan said that the special classes for Classes V to VIII in government schools in Coimbatore district would continue. “They are only to improve the reading and writing skills of students,” he said.