Following repeated requests from students and parents, State Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu has announced that students who have appeared for higher secondary exams this year can apply for photocopies of answer sheets of all the subjects.

Previously, the photocopies of answer sheets for higher secondary exams were provided only for select subjects, including Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Zoology, Botany and Computer Science.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, the Minister said the procedures and fees per subject would be the same as before, and for the languages (English and Tamil) which had two papers each, the fees for obtaining a photocopy and revaluation would be collected separately for individual papers. More centres would be opened to issue forms for revaluations and re-totalling.

The Minister said that to ensure timely distribution of free texbooks in the State, the Ministry has directed the Director of School Education and Director of Elementary Education to directly distribute the books to the students rather that depending on the teachers, as done last year.

‘We identified a gap in the system of distributing free textbooks in the State that the expenses of taking books from the regional offices to schools were borne by teachers and students,’ Thennarasu said.

Every year seven crore textbooks were provided, he said, adding that this benefited more than one crore students. The expected additional expenses for this effort is Rs.1,26,50,155, he said.

The printing of the books were completed well ahead of schedule in February, Textbook Corporation chairman and managing director Hemant Kumar Sinha said.

When asked about the action against private schools for collecting excess fees, Thennarasu said appropriate legal measures would soon be taken against private schools collecting excess fees. The government had already taken note of several reports in this regard but had to wait as the model code of conduct was in effect, he said.