Paving the way for students of government schools to get more preparation time ahead of public examinations, the Directorate of School Education has brought changes in the timetable of quarterly and half-yearly terms and the vacation period.
There was a huge gap between private and government schools in the examination timetable and the subsequent vacation.
In normal practice, private schools (270 in Puducherry and Karaikal) complete their half-yearly examination in the third week of December or before Christmas and declare holiday till January 1.
However, the pattern adopted by about 430 government schools in the region was different from the private institutions. The half-yearly examinations would begin in these schools in the last week of December or first week of January, immediately followed by a vacation. The government schools reopened around January 19.
Following such a practice in government schools left students, who were appearing for public examinations in March, with insufficient preparation time. Under such circumstances, they did not have sufficient time for revising the subjects. It was also taxing on teachers to adequately prepare the students for the final examinations.
“We have changed the schedule of the examinations so that government school students do have more days to prepare for the final examination,” a top official in the Directorate of School Education told The Hindu .
The Directorate has issued circulars to all schools in this regard on the new timetable. As per the circular, holidays will commence on December 24 and schools will reopen on January 2.
