Bucking under pressure, Tamil Nadu cancels board exams for classes five and eight

Buckling under pressure from educationists and child rights activists, the Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday scrapped board exams for students of class five and eight across the state. School Education Minister K A Sengotaiyyan said the government has withdrawn the notification in this regard issued in September last year.

The government’s moves will not just be music to the ears of more than 20 lakh students across the state but also to child rights activists and educationists who had exerted pressure on the AIADMK dispensation to withdraw the move.

The activists had said forcing children from the age of 10 to 13 to sit through a board exam would not just exert “unnecessary pressure” on them at a “tender age” but also lead to heavy dropouts, especially of girl children, from the school at a time when the enrolment rates are quite high in Tamil Nadu.

“School Education Department had issued a notification on 13.9.2019 regarding holding of public exams for students of class five and eight. We received several suggestions regarding the notification and after going through them, the government has decided to withdraw the notification,” Sengotaiyyan said in a statement here.

He added the existing system of no public exams for class five and eight will continue. The move comes a month before the public examinations were to start on March 30 and continue till April 15.

The government issued the notification after the Union Government brought an amendment to the Right to Education (RTE) Act scrapping the no-detention policy. The notification was a deviation from the Tamil Nadu government’s long-standing view of no-detention policy till 8th standard.

P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of State Platform for Common School System, welcomed the move and appreciated the Tamil Nadu government for “upholding democratic values.”

“I also thank the political class for coming together in defence of students and more than everything the announcement is a great relief for students. They can’t bear the stress of examination at a tender age. They wouldn’t even understand the meaning of an exam,” Babu told DH and asked the government to stress on providing “equitable access” to education.

A Devaneyan, Director of Thozhamai working to ensure rights of children, said the government should consult all stakeholders before taking any decision regarding children. “Though I am happy that the exams have been cancelled, I want to note here that students were put to a lot of stress till today due to the announcement. The stress could have been avoided,” Devaneyan told DH.

He added that the government should think of the impact of its decision 10 to 15 years down the line before making any announcements.