7,60,975 students take Plus-2 in state today

Updated on: Thursday, March 08, 2012

A total of 7,60,975 students from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will appear for the Plus-2 examinations to be held across 1,974 centres from Thursday.

As many as 4,07,969 girls and 3,53,006 boys will take their Language I paper on Thursday morning along with 61,319 private candidates.

While in Chennai, a total of 50,201 students (22,669 boys and 27,532 girls) from 412 Higher Secondary schools will take the exams at 139 centres, in Puducherry 12,042 candidates will appear for exams at 31 centres. The number of Tamil medium students taking the exams this year is 5,36,569.

According to a press release from the Director of Government Examinations (DGE), there will be enhanced police protection at the question paper custodian points and Chief Educational Officers and District Educational Officers have been ensuring safety measures at these points.

Students should not indulge in malpractices such as possess printed books, notes or manuscripts, attempt to copy, misbehave with invigilators, substitute answer books or resort to impersonation. If they do so they will be strictly punished, stated the release.

Last year, as many as 184 candidates were punished for indulging in malpractices.

This year, there will be an additional security features and students’ photographs will be attached both in examination lists and in hall tickets.

Major subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Maths, History, Commerce, Accountancy and Economics will have questions in English and either in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada or Urdu.

Students who are dyslexic, visually challenged or hearing impaired will be provided with scribes and they also have an option to drop one language paper.
Starting on Thursday, the exams will end on March 30.

Thousands of students of the district who are taking the Plus 2 examination starting on Thursday are a harried lot as power cuts of eight to nine hours everyday have affected their preparation for the examination. Residents of Chennai suffer power cuts only for an hour or two, compared to the eight to nine hour power cuts in the districts, many parents pointed out, saying their children had been discriminated against. Some people could instal an UPS system but not everyone, said the parents.

Many poor students studying in corporation and government schools were able to study only by candlelight and with the help of emergency lamps.

Academicians also expressed concern that socially-backward students would be worst affected, as they might not have a proper study environment without power.

M. Manorama, principal of Sri Gopal Naidu Higher Secondary School, said that students were complaining that they could not study because of power cuts. “However, we feel they would have utilised the study holidays for preparation. Schools have conducted revision tests to help students,” said the principal.

As part of its efforts to rehabilitate prisoners, the state government has paid Rs 9,000 towards exam fees for 37 prisoners who are set to sit for the Plus-2 exams starting Thursday.

Of the 37 prisoners, two from Coimbatore will not appear for the examinations due to lack of preparations.

“This is the first time the state government has paid the exam fees for prisoners. Four inmates from Vellore prison, eight from Coimbatore, 10 from Madurai and one from Borstal School, Pudukkottai and 10 from Puzhal prison will appear for the exams at Puzhal which is the state centre for exams,” informed S.K. Dogra, ADGP-Prisons.

Another two inmates of Vellore Central Prison, Murugan and Perarivalan, who are imprisoned in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will take up exams at the prison.

“For them a special centre has been established at Vellore as death sentence convicts cannot be moved out,” said Dogra.

Last year, all 19 prisoners passed the exam.

“Writing exams will definitely enhance the prisoners’ self-worth. This will also improve their post release prospects of getting a job and settling down. It’s a beginning for them and it will make difference,” added Dogra.

 

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