Weeks after cancelling the Class 12 board exams in the state, the Tamil Nadu state government has on Saturday rolled out the evaluation criteria based on which the final marks will be awarded for the Class 12 students for their further pursual of higher education. The criteria were formulated by the panel that was formed and tasked by the state government to propose a method of evaluating marks. 

The board exams were cancelled for the first time in the state in light of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Minister MK Stalin had cancelled the exams earlier this month after episodes of hectic discussions, drives of acquiring opinions from various stakeholders, and rounds of meetings over conducting Class 12 board exams in the state. The government has also acquired the opinions from the major political parties to understand their views in conducting the board exams. 

In order to build criteria to provide marks to the students, the government's statement said, "A panel headed by principal secretary of School Education Department would be formed and the panel will consist of higher education secretary, Vice-Chancellor of Madras University, and headmasters of the schools. This panel will research and formulate the criteria on how the students can be awarded marks and it will furnish the report to the government soon." "The admission for the higher education including in colleges and universities will be done based on the marks awarded by the criteria." the statement added.

Nearly three weeks after the panel was constituted, the state government has on Saturday announced the criteria of awarding marks to the Class 12 students. While addressing the reporters, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has said that the panel has recommended various measures and the Chief Minister has finalized a criterion as the method to evaluate the marks. 

How the students will be given marks?

To compute the Class 12 board exam marks for the students, the marks they scored in the Class 10 board exam will carry 50% weightage, the marks they scored in the Class 11 exams will carry 20% of weightage, and the Class 12 internal assessment and practical exam marks will be given the rest 30% weightage. 

Of the 30% weightage in Class 12 internal exams, 20% will be calculated from the practical exams and the rest 10% will be taken from the internal assessment of the students. For subjects that don't have practical exams, 30% of marks will be calculated from the internal assessment. If the students didn't attend the Class 12 practical exams, the weightage of marks will be taken from their Class 11 practical exams. 

In case the students had missed both the practical exams, the marks for Class 12 practical exams will be calculated based on the scores they have secured in Class 10 and Class 11 written exams. The students who have failed in Class 11 will be given 35% marks. If the students had skipped both the Class 11 and Class 12 exams (both the practical and written exams), they will be given an opportunity to write the exams after the pandemic has come under control.

The state government has also announced that it would also give an opportunity for the students who are aggrieved with the marks, awarded based on the criteria, to write the exams. The students can better use this opportunity to write exams if they are not happy with the marks being awarded by the evaluation criteria. The government said that it will issue the notification with an appropriate schedule to conduct exams.

The marks awarded from the evaluation criteria will be final and revaluation can't be done. The government will be calculating 50% weightage from the Class 10 board exam marks. In calculation, the average marks from the three subjects in which they scored high marks will be taken into account for 50% weightage. The government will be providing the final marks based on these criteria and the final marks of the students will be released on the website of the directorate of the examination before July 31st, 2021.