How's it going for Class X students from TN, Puducherry who are attempting Board exams for the first time?

More than 9.55 lakh students turned up for state board Class X exam on Friday, May 6 in 3,936 exam centres across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Though offline exams were being conducted after a break of two years, owing to COVID-19 pandemic, the school education department had taken elaborate measures to ensure hassle free exams. "The first day of the exam was conducted properly and we did not receive any report of untoward incident," shared Chennai's Chief Educational Officer, S Mars.

Because paper leak instances were reported in a few districts during revision tests, the school education officials informed that the focus is to avoid such incidents and ensure safety of question papers.

While the students were scared before they entered the examination hall, as they were going to attempt the board exams for the first time in their life, while exiting the hall, their faces were adorned with bright smiles. "The Tamil question paper was easy. I was scared as I had not revised my lessons well due to paucity of time, but after seeing the question paper I was relieved," said K Srikanth, an examinee.

Students even appreciated the efforts of teachers who raced against time to complete the syllabus because schools were closing down again and again as and when a spike in COVID-19 cases was reported.

"I couldn't attend online classes as my parents were not able to afford a smartphone. I was very scared while coming to the school after COVID-19 because of it. However, our teachers went out of their way, taught us all portions that I had missed in the classrooms. Because of it, all the students in our class wrote the examination well," said Yasmin, a Class X student.  

As many as 9,55,139 students will write the Class X state board examination this year in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Also, 242 prisoners will write Class X exams. The exams will be held at Vellore, Cuddalore, Salem, Coimbatore, Madurai, Pudukottai, Trichy and Puzhal Central Jail.

Also, when it comes to summer vacations, school education department on Friday, May 6, announced that summer holidays for Class I to IX will begin from May 14 to June 12.