TN SSLC Board Exam: The Supreme Court released its decision of extending the exemption from writing the Tamil language paper in the Class 10 board exam. The paper exemption has been delayed for about one year for all those students who are enrolled in linguistic minority schools.
As per the official notification, the apex court recently heard an appeal of the past few years of the Madras High Court. The plea was regarding the paper exemption and in September 2019, the Madras High Court refused to grant Tamil language paper exemption in the Class 10 board exams.
This was further challenged or questioned and after observing this case, SC directed to extend the decision of Tamil language paper exemption. Now the students’ paper exemption has been held on for 1 year till further decision.
In the meantime, a bench of Justice SK Kaul along with Justice Manoj Misra noticed that the interim arrangement has been extended for 1 year. Earlier, the High Court was going to grant an exemption to students studying in linguistic minority schools from writing Tamil language papers in the Class 10 exam under Batch 1 for the academic years 2020 to 2022.
September 2019 Government Letter
The High Court in September 2019 stated that the government letter of July 18, 2016, contained important guidelines for granting exemption to students from writing the Tamil language paper in the Class 10 board examination. Moreover, these cannot be rejected by the court.
However, the court laid out instructions for concerned authorities to exempt students of batch 2020-2022 in linguistic minority schools from writing the Tamil language paper in the Class 10 board exams.
It was further mentioned that only those students were eligible to apply for exemption who have migrated from other states. The guidelines were issued regarding the time schedule and eligibility criteria for applying for Tamil paper exemption (compulsory subject) in the SSLC board examination, 2017.
Exemption Guidelines
For submitting applications for exemption, the following guidelines have been issued. Students who seek exemption from writing Tamil in the 10th standard board examination can go through the rules and regulations put forward by the council
- Students whose parents are in Government Service or employed in Public Sector undertakings/institutions/companies/corporations/private or having Business or any other form of employment in other states can apply
- Along with the above-stated criteria, such students should have been transferred/relocated to Tamil Nadu state during the course of their academic year, then only they are eligible to apply
- Also, those who have not studied Tamil as a language in the school in the state from which they have migrated can apply
It is important to fulfil all these above-mentioned conditions in order to apply for the Tamil paper exemption. In its plea filed in the apex court, the Linguistic Minorities Forum of Tamil Nadu asserted that the issue concerning the Rights of Linguistic Minorities under the Constitution can be contravened by the state. This can be done only if the state legislation introduces Tamil as a compulsory language and as a result, this might prevent the students of linguistic minorities from learning their mother tongue.
Also Read: TN SSLC Board Exam: SC To Hear Plea on Exemption to Students from Writing Tamil Paper on Feb 6
