Over eight lakh students in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will appear for the Class XII higher secondary examination which begins on Monday.
According to the directorate of government examinations, 53,294 students from 408 higher secondary schools will be taking up the exam in 143 centres in the city.
Overall, 26,604 more students than last year will write this year’s examination. Of the 8,26,117 students from 6,004 schools in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, 3,80,288 are boys and 4,45,829 are girls.
As many as 5,45,771 students will write the examination in Tamil. Fifty-eight inmates of Puzhal jail will also write the examination, an official release said. This year, several new initiatives have been introduced by the Directorate. Students will get a pre-filled top sheet with their details on them, instead of students manually entering the information.
Students will be given time to check the details printed on the top sheet. The number of pages in the answer sheet has also been increased to 38.
At the evaluation stage, a barcode system, wherein, the top sheet will be replaced by a barcode before being sent for correction, has also been introduced. To prevent impersonation, photographs of candidates have been printed on the student identity cards and the list given to the examiners.
Generators have also been arranged for uninterrupted power supply to the examination centres. Flying squads, comprising close to 4,000 members, will conduct surprise checks and also be present at some centres through the day.
On days when there are important papers, officials from Anna University will be roped in to conduct surprise checks.
The Directorate has warned students against indulging in malpractices. Last year, 397 students were caught and punished for cheating.
