Bio-Maths group, popularly called the first group, is losing demand among class XI students as a larger number of government school students are opting for the Computer-Maths group in the district. Change of state-board syllabus in line with National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is cited as reasons for the shift in priority.
According to sources in the school education department, the number of applications received in aided schools are for Computer-Maths is around 200 for 60 seats whereas for Bio-Maths, it is around 150, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
In rural areas, most government school students prefer the Commerce group or Biology-Computer Science where there is no Maths.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, SS Saravanakumar, HM of Kallar Reclamation Higher Secondary School in K. Perumalpatti, Usilampatti taluk, said after NEET became mandatory, the state government revised the syllabus, in order to make the students competent to get good marks in NEET. The current Biology syllabus (including Botany and Zoology) is tough than NCERT. Hence students hesitate to take Bio-Maths. Also, students in rural areas just want to pass Class XII and look for jobs. Hence there is always demand student for commerce and computer science than bio-maths," he said.
According to him, last year, six class X ten students opted for Bio-Maths group in class XI, 12 opted for computer-maths, whereas 23 students joined commerce group.
The assistant HM of VHN aided school T Selvam Arputharaj said top scorers from Tamil medium prefer computer maths, whereas students from CBSE syllabus prefer bio-maths group. "There was a tough competition for computer-maths group. Those who studied bio-maths group, can opt for engineering courses as well," he said.
"It is easy to score good marks in computer science, whereas in biology, we need to study zoology and botany. I opted for computer-maths," said R Sanjay, who joined the computer-maths group in Class XI.
A chemistry teacher Vennila Devi said that the first choice of most government school students is bio-computer in rural even though they scored good marks in science and maths in Class X. "We encourage students to join bio-maths group, which offers plenty of opportunities in higher studies." she said.
