Some schools make Class X students rewrite half-yearly exams secretly

TRICHY/COIMBATORE: At least two government high schools in Trichy and a private school in Tirupur have allegedly made Class X students rewrite half-yearly examinations secretly after the government scrapped the board exams and asked schools to submit quarterly and half yearly answer scripts to award marks.
According to teachers, around 30 students of government high school in Seerathoppu in Trichy were asked to come on Thursday to write the half yearly exam again for Tamil paper as the answer scripts were missing. A few of them wrote mathematics paper too the same day. It was not clear how the exams were conducted or whether Covid-preventive steps were taken for the exercise. While the headmistress could not be reached on phone, a similar incident was reported at the government high schools in Inamkulathur and Poongudi as well. The headmaster of Poongudi school however denied having called students to the school for writing exams again.
The private school in Tirupur allegedly sent half-yearly question papers to its students on WhatsApp and asked them to submit the filled-in answer sheets at the school on Saturday.
As visuals of parents and students visiting the school with answer sheets went viral, Tirupur CEO R Ramesh went to the school and held an inquiry. However, he said that they could not find any incriminating evidence on the school campus. “After we learnt about the allegations, we visited the school, but could not find any parents or students,” he told TOI.
Sources say the matriculation school at Chettipalayam in Tirupur did it in a bid to boost the marks of its students as the marklists were yet to be submitted to the directorate.
The state government had announced after cancelling board exams for Class X and the pending exams for Class XI that all Class X students were promoted and their marksheets would be prepared with 80% marks from their quarterly and half yearly exams and 20% from their attendance.
The directorate of government examination had asked headmasters to submit records including progress report, mark registers and answer scripts for half-yearly and quarterly exams by Monday to prevent malpractices and inflation of marks by schools.
Trichy district chief education officer S Santhi has asked schools not to engage in such activities saying that submitting hard copy of half-year marksheets is not mandatory. She said action will be initiated if they receive complaints.