In a much awaited relief for students, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced that the public exams for class 10 students stand fully cancelled. He also said that class 11 board exams will also not be conducted.

Making the announcement at the Secretariat on Tuesday, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that all the students who were in line to write the exams from June 15 will be promoted to class 11. He also said that for class 10 students, 80% of marks will be awarded based on their performance in the quarterly and half-yearly exams and 20% marks will be based on their attendance. 

The decision of the government has come against the backdrop of the state postponing the public exams thrice. The Class 10 exams were first scheduled between March 27 and April 13. However, since the nationwide lockdown was announced by the Central government on March 24, the exams were postponed. The School Education Minister later announced that the exams would be conducted between June 1 and June 15. Facing flak, the government yet again postponed the exams to June 15 and June 25.

However, many people petitioned the court against the decision including the Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers Association. The Madras High Court then asked the government what was the hurry to conduct the exams.

In response to Madras High Court’s question, the state had reasoned that it expected the COVID-19 situation to aggravate in the coming months and hence the exams should be held as planned before the situation became even more difficult.