Many schools struggle to retrieve answer sheets of Class X students

Many schools struggle to retrieve answer sheets of Class X students

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.06.2020

Schools are now hunting for answer sheets for quarterly and half-yearly exams of Class X students after the directorate of government examinations (DGE) direction to submit records including evaluated answer scripts.

To prevent malpractice and inflation of marks by schools, the DGE on Tuesday asked headmasters to submit records including progress report, mark registers and answer sheets for half-yearly and quarterly exams. With boards being canceled, marks from these exams will carry 80% weightage while attendance makes up the rest 20%.

But, since board exams are conducted by the government, most schools have distributed the scripts to students. “We have been calling students and parents all morning. One third of them have said they have disposed of answer scripts,” said N Vijayan, senior principal of Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School.

“Our school has very few answer scripts. After the exams, we evaluated the answer scripts and distributed them to students telling them where they need to improve. We are not sure how many have preserved them,” said V Shanthi, headmistress of Vidyodaya Girls Higher Secondary School in T Nagar. Now as the intense lockdown draws near, the school is busy preparing the records asked by the directorate of government examinations.

Many private schools, however, have submitted their quarterly and halfyearly marks to the district educational offices.

Government schools said they too usually distribute answer sheets after the exam. “Some students keep their answer scripts. But, we have other records like progress reports and mark registers. Government schools have already uploaded the marks on EMIS (Educational Management Information System) portal. So, there is no issue,” a headmaster from government school said.

“This is the only foolproof method they can adopt. Since most schools distributed answer scripts to the students, they can give their explanation as to what they have done with the answer scripts,” said G J Manohar, headmaster of MCC Higher Secondary School, Chetpet.

Some headmasters demanded grades for Class X students since there is no exam this year. “They should give grades to students as many students would have performed below par in quarterly and half-yearly exams,” a headmaster said.

In view of the 12-day lockdown, the DGE has relaxed the submission deadline for schools in Chennai and its neighbouring districts. “Answer scripts are among the records schools need to submit. If they don’t have answer scripts, they can submit other documents like progress reports and marks registers,” officials said.

After the exams, we evaluated the answer scripts and distributed them to students telling them where they need to improve. We are not sure how many have preserved them

V Shanthi | HEADMISTRESS, VIDYODAYA GIRLS HIGHER

SECONDARY SCHOOL