In a surprise announcement, the Tamil Nadu School Education department has on Wednesday mandated to conduct the Unit Test for the incoming students of Classes 10 and 12 every month. The mandatory testing system would come into force with the aim of preparing the students of Classes 10 and 12 for the next state board exams. Instead of waiting till the resumption of the schools, the government is planning to conduct the tests online. 

According to reports, the students who are studying Class 10 and 12 in the current academic year would be appearing for the Unit Test every month to academically equip them for the board exams. The school education department has directed the schools to conduct the Unit Tests every month from the lessons taught through Kalvi Television and online. The schools are asked to create separate WhatsApp groups for the students. 

The question papers for the Unit Tests can be shared in that WhatsApp group and the students can appear for the exams online. The school education department has asked the schools to conduct the Unit Tests at the end of every month for a total of 50 marks. The government has also asked the schools to conduct Unit Tests by revising the portions covered in June and July. The school management can get the question paper from the education department in the respective districts. 

The reports say that the first-of-its-kind Unit Tests would be conducted from August with the view of preparing the students for next year's board exams. Currently, the Unit Tests are conducted based on the school management and most of the schools are conducting the Unit Tests before the term exams, once in three months. Meanwhile, the state government has on Monday released the final board exam results for the Class 12 students. 

The board exams for Class 12 for this year were cancelled in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The results were announced as per the evaluation criteria formulated by the government-installed panel. As the results were announced, the colleges in the state are gearing up to begin the admission process to admit the students for the undergraduate courses. The government has framed criteria to award the Class 12 marks to the students based on their performances and marks of Class 10 and Class 11 including the practical and internal tests. 

As the Class 12 students had settled down for the new normal by attending their classes online for the past one year owing to the Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions, the colleges in Chennai are planning to offer two-week-long bridge courses for the freshers as the institutions worry that the students may have slipped out of the Class 12 syllabus in the absence of physical classes. The colleges are also aiming to give a refreshing session to the students instead of jumping directly on the undergraduate syllabus. 

The colleges in Chennai have sounded sceptical over the understanding ability and skills to cope up with the undergraduate level. Though there is no sign from the state government in reopening the colleges, the institutions are planning to conduct the bridge courses to revise basic concepts as per their higher secondary group and UG course before bringing them into the regular syllabus of the undergraduate program. Such a bridge course would be first in the state and the institutions say that it's imperative for the students to have a good start in colleges.