Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, on Saturday, announced in the floor of the state assembly that the class 10 SSLC exams, which was scheduled to be held from March 27 to April 13, will be postponed to after April 14.
The chief minister said the decision was taken based on several requests made by teachers, and added that a fresh schedule will be announced soon. Palaniswami said the exams will be conducted after April 14.
However, class 11 and 12 exams, which have already begun, will continue as per schedule. A class 12 exam is scheduled for Tuesday while two class 11 exams are scheduled for Monday and Thursday.
In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Tamil Nadu government had earlier ordered the closure of education institutions, except medical colleges, till March 31. There have been several requests to the government, and also rumours, on the rescheduling of the class 10 board exams in Tamil Nadu. According to the state education department, at least 9,45,000 students are to appear for the SSLC exams in Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, on March 18, the Union ministry of human resource development (MHRD) had directed the central board of school education to reschedule the exams for class 10 and 12. As per the MHRD’s directions, the exams have been postponed and a fresh schedule is to be announced soon.
The state government has also announced that all beaches in Chennai, including Marina, Besant Nagar, Palavakkam and Thiruvanmiyur, will remain closed for public from Saturday 3 pm until further orders. The state government has already closed down all public places, including cinema halls, malls and temples. Beaches being a place frequented by people on weekends, Chennai corporation has ordered the shutdown till further orders to stop the spread of the virus.
In the meantime, in Tamil Nadu, 54 persons have been admitted to isolation wards and 8,950 are under follow-up for self quarantine. The home quarantine has increased from 4,253 0n Friday to 8,950 on Saturday, according to Health Minister Dr C. Vijayabhaskar. Of the 412 samples collected, a total of 70 samples are under process.
