Class 10 public exams in Tamil Nadu cancelled, students promoted: CM Palaniswami
Chennai: The class 10 board examination in Tamil Nadu are cancelled and students are promoted in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced here on Tuesday.
The exams for certain class 11 subjects, which could not be held earlier were also cancelled.
While 80 per cent marks would be based on students performance in quarterly and half yearly exams, 20 per cent shall depend on their attendance, he said.
The announcement comes a day after the Madras High Court said it cannot put lives of more than nine lakh students at stake and asked the government to consider postponement of the exams in view of soaring COVID-19 cases.
Palaniswami said while the government had made preparations to hold exams from June 15 to 25, the matter went to the High Court which asked the dispensation to take a relook at holding exams in view of soaring COVID-19 cases and the government made a detailed study of the matter.
"Under the present circumstances, coronavirus cases are on the rise continuously in Chennai and some districts.
Epidemiologists have opined that there is no scope for reduction in the spread of the virus in a short period of time," he said in a televised address.
Hence, considering the representation of parents, the present trend of virus spread, and to protect students from the pathogen, board examinations scheduled for 10th class, and for subjects that could not be conducted for 11th standard are fully cancelled and students are declared promoted, the Chief Minister said.
The subjects for which exams could not be held for class 11 include chemistry and accountancy. The supplementary and arrear exams for 12th standard students are postponed and fresh dates will be announced later, he added.
The Tamil Nadu government had on Monday informed the Madras High Court that the present schedule for holding Class X Board exams from June 15 was the right time as experts' opinions published in news reports forecast COVID-19 cases in the state might rise up to two lakh in coming days.
Hearing a petition by a teachers' association challenging the government's decision to conduct the exams amid the pandemic, a division bench of justices Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar made it clear it was prima facie convinced that the state has to be restrained from going ahead with the schedule.
However, the bench restrained itself from passing any interim order and adjourned the hearing to June 11 directing the state to inform its stand.
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Dalit outfits call state-wide hartal over dental student’s death
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Various Dalit organisations on Monday announced a state-wide hartal seeking justice in the death of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj.
The hartal will be observed on Tuesday from 6 am to 6 pm.
As many as 52 Dalit organisations, including Justice for Nithin Raj Action Council, have announced the strike.
Organisations requesting cooperation for the strike said that no vehicles will be forcibly stopped and that all essential services are exempted.
Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakkandy in Kannur district, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
Police have registered a case against two faculty members on charges of abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, following allegations by the student’s family that he was subjected to caste- and complexion-based harassment.
Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani (KPSM), one of the organisations supporting the hartal, alleged in a statement that police had shown apathy in the investigation and were attempting to protect the accused in the case.
KPSM state president K V Padmanabhan and general secretary S Anwar alleged that the probe into Raj’s death was being deliberately misdirected and delayed.
While the family has firmly alleged that caste discrimination and mental harassment by faculty members led to the student’s death, police were attempting to divert the investigation towards loan app borrowings, they claimed.
The organisation alleged that this was a planned move to shield the real accused.
KPSM further alleged that by deliberately delaying the arrest of the accused teachers, police enabled them to secure anticipatory bail.
They said there was no confidence in the present police investigation and demanded that the case be handed over to an independent agency at the earliest.
