Chennai region comes second in Class 10 CBSE public exam

Students, schools happy with results despite evaluation overhaul

Exams are back: The re-introduction of the compulsory board exam for the students did not seem to have had much of an impact on their performance.

After a year of changes with regard to their evaluation patterns, students of class 10 from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) who wrote the board exams in March had much reason to cheer. The re-introduction of the compulsory board exam for the students, after doing away with the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) pattern, did not seem to have much of a bearing on the performance of the students. Several schools in the city said all of their students cleared the exams and a few had scored centums in maths and social science as well.

The Chennai region, comprising Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu, recorded a pass percentage of 97.37% and came second behind the Thiruvananthapuram region.

Dharani Govindasamy, a student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir who scored 497 marks with centums in maths, science, French and social science, said the process of preparing for the exams this year was different for students, given that they had to study the full portions.

As part of the CCE system, students had been given the choice of either taking up a school or a board conducted exam, which was based only on the portions of their second semester. The compulsory board exam now has students write an exam in the full portions they are taught through the year.

“Despite this being a transition period for students, they’ve done very well and adjusted well to the changes,” said Revathy Parameswaran, principal-designate, P.S. Senior Secondary School.

‘Positive change’

“Having faced a board exam now, the next year will not mean a new beginning for them. The current system is definitely a positive one as it is tough to compartmentalise subjects like maths,” she added.

Vijay Muralidharan, a student of Chettinad Vidyashram who scored 493 out of 500, said he and his class mates had four rounds of revision exams before the boards.

The CBSE had also announced that a consolidated score of 33% in the board examination for 80 marks and internal assessment for 20 marks was enough for students to clear the exam.

Stating that the students now would be much more confident of taking up the board exam in Class 12, Malathy Nagarajan, vice-principal of Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashram, said that although they were initially concerned, parents and students were happy after the results had been announced.