Opposing Union Human Resources Development Minister, Kapil Sibal's proposal to withdraw the 10th standard examination and make the 12th standard exam common, AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said the move appeared to have been made "unilaterally" and without "proper application of mind". "His (Sibal's) announcement that the system of Board Examinations at the 10th standard level would be withdrawn and the 12th standard examinations would be a common examination for the whole country appears to have been made unilaterally and without proper application of mind," she said in a statement here.

She said a pass in tenth standard is the pre-requisite on Wednesday for entry into several diploma and ITI courses. It is also considered the basic qualification for certain categories of jobs. "To do away with this examination arbitrarily puts a tremendous burden on students and parents who wish to pursue such courses of study or wish to take up employment due to their dire financial condition," she said. "Further, this decision has been taken without any consultation with state governments about its benefits or consequences. This attitude not only smacks of unilateralism but is also a blow to the autonomy of states," Jayalalithaa said.

On the proposal to make 12th standard exam common, Jaya said "while commonality in curriculum is welcome, the arbitrary announcement that the 12th standard examinations would be common for the whole country again indicates that adequate thought has not been put into the consequences of such an act". "How can a student of the Hindi language in a Southern state like Tamil Nadu take the same Hindi paper as, say, a student of Uttar Pradesh, for whom Hindi is the mother tongue and lingua franca"?, she questioned. She also said it was surprising to note that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was maintaining silence on Sibal's proposals.