The Education Department’s plan to conduct practical exams for Plus One, as part of the public examination, has apparently unsettled teachers and students in both government and private schools.
While announcing the decision on conducting public exams for Plus One to prepare students for NEET and other competitive examinations shortly after the start of this academic year, the Education Department had given an assurance that the practical component will be clubbed and conducted during the next academic year for the Plus One students.
But the decision taken during December by the Education Ministry to conduct the practical examinations this year itself has come as a bolt from the blue for the schools.
The theory content for Plus One envisages theoretical learning till the end of January. “Now, the schools are in a fix not only due to paucity of time to prepare the students for the practical examinations but also because no institution has the requisite laboratory for conducting as many as 12 experiments in Physics, and slightly lesser numbers in Chemistry and Biology,” A. Venkatesan, Tiruchi district unit president of Tamil Nadu Post Graduate Teachers' Association said.
Even self-financing schools are stated to be in a piquant situation because the investment they make on the expensive laboratory equipment would be for just this year; the syllabi is getting changed from the next academic year.
Though public exam for Plus One was introduced by the Government with the intention of preparing the students for answering application oriented questions asked in competitive examinations, the plan of action to implement the idea leaves much to be desired, according to school headmasters.
Moreover, the emphasis on conduct of unit tests as and when portions are completed has only added to the stress of the students, a headmaster of a government higher secondary school in a rural area said.
The school heads have no idea as to how the practical exams could be completed for students of 10th, 11th and 12th standards during February, and prepare the students to face the theory examinations the subsequent month.
More so, because the government has gone on record with the assurance to publish the public exam results for Plus Two on May 10, for Plus One towards the end of May, and for SSLC some time in between, another HM pointed out.
