With the SSLC examinations all set to commence on Wednesday, over 1,000 students of Urdu-medium schools in Vellore district are in a quandary as they have not been exempted from taking the compulsory Tamil language paper.
On Tuesday, several students from schools in Ambur and Pernambut took to the road to stage a protest along with their parents. They expressed concern over not being exempted from the compulsory Tamil language examination that will be held on Wednesday. They wanted to take the examination in their mother tongue.
On February 27, the Madras High Court had granted relief to the students of linguistic minority schools in the State from appearing for the compulsory Tamil language paper in SSLC examination.
This applied to the students in Vellore district, a senior official of the School Education Department.
He clarified that 1,800 students of linguistic minority schools in Vellore district had sought exemption from writing the compulsory Tamil language paper. “These students had sought exemption and their representation was accepted by the government. Now, after the court verdict, the remaining school managements are also seeking exemption from the Tamil exam,” he said.
The State government had enacted the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act in 2006 making teaching of Tamil mandatory in classes I to X.
He added that the exempted students can take the examination in their respective mother tongue such as Urdu and Arabic, and all arrangements for question papers have been made.
This has left over 1,000 students of a number of Urdu-medium schools in Ambur, Pernambut, Ombarabad, Nariampattu, Tirupattur and Pallikonda in a fix. “How can these students after studying in Urdu take the Tamil language paper? At least 1,200 students are facing the hardship now. They have been put through unnecessary confusion and misery. No arrangements have been made to enable them to write in their mother tongue,” said T. Basheeruddin, State joint general secretary of Tamil Nadu Urdu Schools Teachers Association.
He said that many of these students, as per procedure, had submitted applications seeking exemption through the school heads to the District Educational Officer (DEO) in July 2016. “However, the officials returned the applications saying that they will accept after receiving order from the government. They should have asked for the applications at least after the court verdict,” he said.
A representative of Nusrathul Islam Girls Higher Secondary School at Pernambut said a total of 207 students of the school would be appearing for the class X board examinations.
“We had sent applications seeking exemptions from Tamil language paper in August last year to the office of the DEO through speed post. But the entire set of applications was returned with no explanation. Now, our students have been left in the lurch,” he said.
