Out of 16,307 students, 585 were absent for the Tamil language paper on the first day of Class 12 public exam here on Thursday.
Shocked over the absenteeism, some teachers said they were unaware of the reasons and maintained that the language paper was easy.
Collector P Madhusudhan Reddy visited Government Higher Secondary School at Thirumancholai near Thirupuvanam and checked the availability of drinking water and other assistance for differently abled students in the district with School Education Department officials.
From the three educational districts of Sivaganga, Devakottai and Tirupathur, 7,539 boys and 8,768 girls appeared in 77 centres across the district. Transport arrangements for students and others were reviewed.
In Theni, Collector K.V. Muralidharan visited Allinagaram Government Higher Secondary School. He told reporters that a total of 14,954 students comprising 7,451 boys and 7,503 girls, had registered for the exam.
.A total of 801 among them were absent, CEO Senthilvel Murugan said.
In the three educational districts of Theni, Uthamapalayam and Periakulam, 142 schools had registered for the exam.
In Ramanathapuram, Collector Shankar Lal Kumawat inspected a government higher secondary school and inquired with the officials the arrangements for differently abled students. He told reporters that they had made it mandatory for the students to wear masks as a safety measure.
Out of 14,388 registered students, 607 were absent, he added.
