Govt plans to hold pending semester exams in September

Chennai

As the Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE) has also recommended that the counselling for students seeking engineering admissions in the state could be done in the same month if things are under control in connection with the spread of COVID-19.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next on Wednesday that a detailed review meeting will be conducted very soon by the expert committee, which was constituted to look into the academic time loss issue. “In view of the emerging situation in connection with COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, it is important to safeguard the principles of health, safety, fair and equal opportunity for students,” he said adding “similarly, it is very important to ensure academic credibility, career opportunities and future progress of students.”

Pointing out that the academic evaluation of students is very vital in the education system, the official said “students will receive confidence when they appear and perform in the exams and therefore, the state is keen in conducting final semester exam, which was postponed indefinitely for all the college students since March.”

“With the UGC also releasing the new academic schedule, which is from September,” he said adding “here in the state the semester exams should be conducted along with other state students.”

A DOTE authority said that every year engineering courses counselling starts in June last week and this year due to COVID-19 pandemic the admission session has been postponed indefinitely.

“Even All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has also rescheduled the engineering counselling according to the state’s pandemic situation,” he added.

The official further said, “understanding the situation this year, the counselling and admission works will be completed within one month so that by October the colleges could begin.”