CHENNAI: To improve pass percentages in Class 10 and 12 public examinations, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department has rolled out a new initiative to provide daily practice questions to students in government schools across Chennai.
As part of the plan, students will be given one-mark and two-mark questions every day to help reinforce subject knowledge and develop exam readiness.
Senior education department officials said a panel of top educators will prepare the questions, which will be distributed to schools for daily sessions.
“Headmasters and assistant headmasters have been tasked with ensuring that students engage with these practice questions regularly. The goal is to develop consistent study habits and improve familiarity with the syllabus, ” said a senior official from the department.
To complement this effort, monthly assessments will be conducted to identify “slow learners”. Those students will then receive focused remedial training to help close learning gaps.
In addition, the department will pay special attention to schools that recorded lower pass percentages in the most recent board exams. “A block-wise analysis will be carried out to identify underperforming schools, ” said Pugalendhi, a senior official involved in the initiative.
“Headmasters and assistant headmasters of such schools will receive counselling and guidance on how to improve student outcomes. These measures will be implemented with urgency over the next two to four months, ” he said.
The intervention follows disappointing performances by Chennai’s government schools in this year’s board results. The city ranked 37th in the SSLC (Class 10) examinations with a pass percentage of 82.84, and 35th in the Higher Secondary (Class XII) results with 87.86.
However, the initiative has drawn criticism from educationists who warn against a purely marks-driven strategy. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, said the approach mimics the private school model without addressing deeper educational needs.
“Prioritising marks over meaningful learning sends the wrong message, ” he said. “Students should be encouraged to understand the purpose of education. Once that is achieved, improved results will naturally follow. The focus should first be on strengthening infrastructure and ensuring government schools offer facilities on par with private institutions, ” he said.
Despite the criticism, the government plans to aggressively pursue the strategy in the coming months to bridge academic gaps and raise overall learning standards in state-run schools.