SSLC exams touchstone for school reopening

After safe conduct of boards, govt plans to get feedback from all stakeholders before arriving at a decision

CHENNAI: With surveys indicating that most of the parents in the State were unwilling to send their child back to school unless the threat of coronavirus gets fully diluted, Tamil Nadu government has decided to get feedback from the stakeholders on the reopening of schools once the board exams for Class 10 are conducted safely.

The SSLC exams have been fixed from June 15 to June 25 with more than 9.5 lakh students from across the State appearing for it. A recent finding, conducted by ParentCircle, a parenting platform, revealed that about 92 per cent of parents in Tamil Nadu are still afraid of sending their children to schools. Of the total participants, 54 per cent said they will monitor for a month after school reopening before sending their child to school.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next that the government is not in a hurry to reopen the schools since the authorities were keen on mitigating the fears of the parents. “Most of the stakeholders, including academicians, have got a wrong notion that the authorities were in a haste to conduct Class 10 board exams,” he said adding “the decision was taken as the Centre rejected the State proposal to scrap SSLC exams since it is vital for the students to pursue high school studies”.

Stating that all precautionary measures will be put in place to conduct exams, the official said the government's decision to reopen will depend on how successful the board exams were conducted.

“Suggestions and feedback will be sought from all the quarters in connection to the exam-related works so that we would be getting a clear picture of the improvements that have to be made to reopen the schools,” he said.

The official pointed out that there will be a high-level review meeting comprising School Education Department authorities, academicians, teaching staff, parent-teacher associations, and representatives of the schools including private institutions to discuss various steps that could be taken to allay the fears of both the students and parents.

“The discussion will also include whether to reopen the schools for only higher classes and also the possibilities of introducing alternate day classes,” he said adding “the outcome of the meeting will be sent to the State government, which would announce its decision accordingly”.