In what has become an unanticipated announcement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has on Thursday announced that the students of class 9, 10, and 11 will be promoted to the next level without board examinations. The Chief Minister unveiled the major announcement while he was addressing the assembly's budget session. 

Edappadi Palaniswami has addressed the assembly on the third day of the budget session during which he had unveiled major announcements under Rule 110 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly rules. He announced that the board examinations for the students of classes 9, 10, and 11 will be canceled this year and the students will be promoted to their next level by certifying them that they had cleared the current grade. 

The announcement of canceling the board exams for these three grades particularly for class 10 has come as a surprise for the students, teachers, and parents and it was unexpected and has come in the midst of aggressive training given by the schools for the class 10 students. The students have been undergoing full-fledged preparations for the board exams and when they are months ahead of the exams, the Chief Minister had announced the cancellation of the board exams. 

According to reports, the government has taken the decision of canceling the board exams due to the rise of COVID-19 cases among students across the state. With no larger-scale demand from the parents and students to cancel the exam, the state government has come to the front by itself and announced the cancellation of the board exams, which stirred mixed reactions from the teachers, parents, and educationalists. 

It must be noted that the government had canceled the board exam for the class 10 students after strong demand from the parents, opposition, and educationalists who urged the government to defer or cancel the board exam for the students owing to the lockdown and rampant COVID-19 spread. The government was later castigated by the High Court not to play in the lives of students following which the Chief Minister announced that the board exams will be canceled for the class 10 students. 

Following the cancellation, the class 10 students were promoted to the next level by awarding marks based on their quarterly and half-yearly exams and their attendance. Though there were some backlashes in this new ranking system, most of the students were promoted to the next level. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, the students were studying online from their residences for over eight months and while the cases were decreased, the government had poured major relaxations from the lockdown during when the talks to re-open the school have erupted across the state.

Earlier this January, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to open the schools for classes 10 and 12 to prepare the students fr the upcoming board exams. The government said that the decision of resuming the schools was taken with the view of the welfare of the students and asked the schools to conduct the meeting with the parents to understand their opinions to re-open the schools. Following the meeting, the government said that over 90% of the parents had agreed to re-open the schools. 

In the third week of January, after the Pongal Holidays, the government had resumed the schools for classes 9 to 12 with the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols to prepare the students of these four classes for the upcoming board exams. Most of the schools and hostels were resumed for these four classes and the students were aggressively preparing for the board exams. Some of the schools had reported COVID-19 cases. However, the parents and students hadn't asked the government to cancel the board exams on a large-scale like how they asked last year. 

However, amid no larger expectations and demand from the parents and teachers to cancel the upcoming board exam, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has on Thursday announced that the board exams for classes 9, 10, and 11 will be canceled for the academic year 2020-21 and they will be promoted to next level with the tag of 'all pass'. Putting everyone into the surprise through his announcement, the Chief Minister hadn't divulged how the students will be passed and whether the government will use the same ranking system as the preceding academic year, but it should be noted that the students hadn't appeared for the quarterly and half-yearly exams last year due to the closure of schools and it has been expected that the government will propose a new ranking system. 

Through his announcement, Tamil Nadu has marked an unprecedented fashion where the board exams are canceled for the second consecutive time. On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu government had already announced the date for the board exam of class 12. According to reports, the board exam for class 12 will commence from May 3 after the assembly polls, which are expected to be held in the last week of April. 

Along with canceling the board exams for classes 9, 10, and 11, the Chief Minister had also announced in the assembly that the retirement age for the government employees will be increased to 60 from 59 and this new retirement scale will come into effect on May 31st, 2021. As these announcements have come ahead of the assembly polls, the ruling ADMK has been adding more talking points on the campaign trail in its bid to cover voters. Earlier, the government has provided a Rs 2,500 Pongal package, waived off farm loans, and withdrawn petty cases that were filed against the people in recent times.