On Friday, March 24, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, the Minister for School Education, gave assurance to the assembly that steps will be taken to enable the missing students of the Plus Two language paper to appear for the supplementary examination. The assurance was in response to a call attention motion raised by members of multiple political parties concerning the absence of around 50,000 students during the exam. The call attention motion was brought by members from TVK, VCK, AIADMK, Congress, and PMK, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
What do the numbers say?
In his response to the call attention motion, Minister Poyyamozhi clarified that the absent students were those who had been promoted from Class X to the next class in the 2020-2021 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of the total of 8,85,051 students who had registered for the Class XI examination in 2021-2022, only 7,59,874 were promoted to the next class. This means that 1,25,177 students either missed the exam or were not promoted. Minister Mahesh Poyyamozhi pointed out, "The number of absentees for the Class 12 language paper is 47,943. They were among the 1,25,177 students who did not appear for the Class XI examination and were not promoted," as reported by The New Indian Express.
The minister provided a rundown of the steps that the education department is taking to facilitate the education of absent students. The department will frequently convene meetings of the school management committee to identify the absentees, provide guidance to the students and their parents to take the supplementary exam in July, create awareness about dialling 14,477 in case of any doubts regarding the exam and highlight the importance of the supplementary examination.
Speaking about the mandatory attendance for permitting the public examination, Minister Mahesh Poyyamozhi said, "In the coming year the minimum attendance for the Class XI and Class XII public examinations would be 75% and the regular absentees' students will be monitored by the school headmasters and higher-ups to ensure the proper attendance of the students and prevent drop-outs."
In addition, the minister mentioned that measures will be implemented to raise awareness among students about the prevention of underage marriage and they will be encouraged to dial 1098 in case of any requirement, as reported by The New Indian Express.
