The Directorate of Government Examinations was formed as a separate directorate in India in February 1975. Prior to the formation of Directorate Of Government Examinations, the then DPI/DSE was the ex-officio commissioner for Government 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. History Name of Examination Year commenced Matriculation-1979 AngloIndian-1979 Hr. Secondary - 1980 Introduction of Uniform Pattern (SSLC) - 2012 This Directorate has 7 Regional offices at Madurai, Coimbatore, 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 25 lakh students every year, To enable the drop out who could not pursue their school studies due to various reasons, this department is conducting 8th 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. Important Milestones of Directorate of Government Examinations 20th Century 1911 Introduction of SSLC Examinations 1972 Computerised Mark Certificates issued from 1975 Formation of Directorate of Government Examinations 1978 Introduction of Matriculation and Anglo-Indian Examinations 1980 Introduction of Higher Secondary Examination 1980 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Madurai Region. 1980 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Coimbatore Region. 1982 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Trichy Region. 1984 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Chennai Region. 1987 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Tirunelveli Region. 1989 Implementation of Improvement scheme in Higher Secondary Examination – allowing passed candidates to re-appear again for improving their marks. 1994 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Cuddalore Region. 1996 Introduction of Aural / Oral skill test in Paper II of languages Part I & II in Higher Secondary Examination. 1999 Formation of Regional Deputy Directorate of Government Examinations – Vellore Region. 21st Century 2000 Affixing Hologram stickers in the Mark Certificates 2000 Printing of Bi-lingual Mark Certificates in Tamil & English languages. 2000 Use of OMR sheets for answering 75 one mark questions in Higher Secondary Computer