The Plus One higher secondary improvement/supplementary examinations will be held as per last year’s schedule and not in March as decided, Minister for General Education V. Sivankuttty has said.
The decision was made taking into consideration students’ demands, a statement quoting the Minister said on Saturday.
It was on April 26 that the government issued an order that the Plus One improvement examinations will be held at the end of the academic year along with the Plus Two public examinations instead of in August or September.
The statement said too many examinations in higher secondary were leading to loss of valuable academic days. It took nearly three months to complete one improvement/supplementary examination cycle. An exam notification had to be issued at least two months before the examination date. Right from preparation of question papers, their printing to receiving exam fee and its verification, and hall ticket distribution, everything disrupted smooth functioning of school.
Just as Plus One classes start to fall into a pattern, the improvement examinations of students in Plus Two classes end up disrupting usual school activities. Due to this, both Plus One and Plus Two academics are affected.
At least 10 days are needed to conduct examinations in 57 subjects across 46 subject combinations in higher secondary. Usually, the improvement examinations are held in September or October. The valuation of answer scripts takes 15 to 25 days. Once the results are declared, revaluation too requires a similar amount of time. Teachers involved in these duties are unable to take classes all these days.
Once the improvement examinations are announced, the Plus Two students turn their attention to studying Plus One subjects. As a result, Plus One and Plus Two students lose two months of classes.
The examinations were pushed to the end of the year to achieve the maximum possible working days to improve academic standards.
However, there were pleas from student that the improvement examinations be conducted like last year, as the order was issued only after the Plus One public examinations were held and the students were unaware of it. The government had agreed to their demand. From the next academic year though, the improvement examinations would be held along with the Plus Two examinations in March, the Minister said.
A Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) monitoring committee meeting held online in the afternoon had decided to recommend to the government to conduct the Plus One improvement examinations before March this year too.
The QIP teachers’ organisations had unanimously pointed out that students, parents, and teachers were demanding that the examinations be held as per the usual time schedule, and not later. They said that with classes starting in August and the Plus One public examinations held in March, they got only around 90 working days. This had affected their results. Hence, they wanted the option to improve their results by appearing for the examinations in August or September, and not March.
