The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Poorer pass percentage likely in Class X science paper: teachers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 08, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Poorer pass percentage likely in Class X science paper: teachers

Meera Srinivasan

"Questions for about 30 marks not from exercise questions listed at end of each chapter"

Number of centums in Class Ten (SSLC) science examination in the last two years: YearTotal students Number of centums 20057,54,766284 20068,14,80965

CHENNAI: Members of the Tamil Nadu Graduate Teachers' Association on Saturday said there may be a considerable fall in the number of students passing the Class X (SSLC) Science paper this year.

Addressing mediapersons, the teachers said that questions for about 30 marks were not from the exercise questions listed at the end of each chapter.

"Though the questions were from the textbook, they were from less important portions ," said Association general secretary S.M.Thambithurai.

The Association had submitted a memorandum to the Director of Government Examinations in July last, seeking the deletion of complicated sections in the syllabus. They attributed the fall in overall pass percentage in the last two years to the drop in science scores. State President of the Association M. Chidambara Hari said, "We had also requested the government to appoint separate teachers for Physics, Chemistry and Biology so that they would be in a better position to teach important concepts.

Unfortunately, the department gives more emphasis to Class XII examinations and ignores the plight of SSLC students."

They also sought the involvement of senior teachers in the framing of question papers. Following this year's SSLC science examination, the Association members approached officials concerned and requested them to be lenient in evaluation.

Meanwhile, members of the Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Head Masters' Association also maintained that the Science paper was rather difficult.

When contacted, highly placed department officials said there was no question of awarding extra marks to SSLC students for the Science paper. Unlike in the case of Class XII (Higher Secondary) Chemistry and Physics question papers that had mistakes, none of the questions in the Class X Science paper had errors or were out of syllabus. However, the teachers' request for lenient evaluation would be considered while preparing the answer key for the subject, a senior official told The Hindu .

Senior officials said several teachers followed the practice of coaching students in a set of questions they deemed important, they said.

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