The Directorate of Government Examinations was formed as a separate directorate in Feb.1975. Prior to the formation of Directorate Of Government Examinations, the then DPI/DSE was the ex-officio commissioner for Govt. exams and the department was having its office at Madras only.

The first secondary school leaving certificate exam was conducted in the year 1911. This directorate started conducting the following major exams from the year noted against each of them, in addition to the various examination.

Name of Examination Year commenced

Matriculation - 1979
Anglo Indian - 1979
Hr. Secondary - 1980

This Directorate has 7 regional offices at Madurai and Coimbatore subsequently Regional Offices were formed at Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli , Chennai, Cuddalore and Vellore.

Apart from the academic stream examination in academic fields, this department is conducting various vocational stream examinations also as given in the Annexure.

At present this department in conducting exams for about 15 lakh students every year (examination wise no of candidates is given in a separate annexure)

To enable the drop out who could not pursue their school studies due to various reasons, this department is conducting 8^th standard public exam purely for private candidates. Likewise, private candidates are also permitted to appear for SSLC and Hr. Sec. School Exams directly either wholly or compartmentally.

 Click here for Milestones of Directorate of Government Examinations