The supplementary board examinations for Classes 12 and 10 began across Tamil Nadu on Monday with the language paper.
Following the cancellation of the SSLC examination, which was to have been held in March, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Class 10 students who had registered themselves for the examination through schools were declared promoted by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
They were given mark-sheets based on their half-yearly and quarterly examinations.
Around 10,000 private candidates had registered themselves for the Class 10 examination, and are writing the examination now. The examination will go on till September 26. The Class 12 supplementary examination will go on till September 28. Disability rights activists and parents of candidates with disabilities had raised concerns ahead of the examination.
As many as 1,410 candidates with disabilities had registered themselves for the Class 10 examination as private candidates. Concerns were voiced about their safety since it would be tough for them to follow physical distancing norms while writing the examination with the help of scribes and to wear a mask for over three hours.
On Sunday, the Madras High Court refused to stay the conduct of the examination. The State government informed the court that all the candidates with disabilities and their scribes had tested negative for COVID-19.
Vaishnavi Jayakumar, member, Disability Rights Alliance (DRA), said several candidates with disabilities were allotted centres in special schools.
“The Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled had coordinated with parents, candidates and school administrators... On the first day, the only issue flagged by the parents who had accompanied the candidates was that they had to wait outside the centres for around 4 hours,” she said.
In case of any concerns, the candidates and parents had been asked to reach out through the government helpline for the disabled at 1800 4250 111 or at 97007 99993 for persons with speech and hearing impairments to reach out through sign language via WhatsApp and video calls.
