Semester exams cancelled for Tamil Nadu college students

Semester exams cancelled for Tamil Nadu college students

TNN | Jul 24, 2020, 04.52 AM IST

CHENNAI: The state government on Thursday announced cancellation of exams for all college students, including those doing professional courses, and promoted them to the next level in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Final-year students, however, are exempted and they may have to undergo some form of assessment, such as online exams, as per guidelines issued by the UGC.

“Students are exempted from writing semester exams (May 2020). They should be awarded marks in consonance with UGC and AICTE guidelines,” chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said in a statement.

Except those appearing in terminal exams, all students studying BA, BSc, MA, MSc, BE/B Tech/B Arch, ME/M Tech, MCA and diploma courses have been promoted to the next academic year.

Earlier, the state government had set up an 11-member expert panel to finalize the modalities for conducting exams.

“The panel had suggested that there was no possibility of conducting exams due to the Covid-19 spread,” the CM said, adding that a detailed government order would soon be issued by the state higher education department.

After the CM’s announcement, the department convened a meeting with state universities on Thursday. “The state government has decided to wait for a reply from the MHRD on conducting exams for final-year students. For others, marks would be awarded as per the UGC guidelines issued on April 29,” sources said.

As per the UGC guidelines, 50% marks would be awarded based on internal evaluation and remaining 50% marks can be awarded based on the previous semester. The internal evaluation can be a continuous one factoring in mid-semester, internal assignments and other assessments.

If the previous semester or previous year marks are not available, 100% evaluation may be done based on internal assessment. Students can also appear for special exams in next semester if they want to improve their grades in any subject.

Meanwhile, some universities are planning to conduct final-year exams for students through online mode. “As per the state government’s announcement, there is no bar in conducting exam for final-year students,” an official said.