Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami visited Nagapattinam on Friday to campaign for the upcoming assembly elections. He was visiting Thiruthuraipoondi in Nagapattinam when on the terrace of a building, over 15 students held green-coloured placards which read "We are arrear boys, we will vote for you." The students were shouting in favour of the Chief Minister thanking him for exempting them from taking the arrear exams this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
This is not the first time students have thanked the CM with placards or by expressing their appreciation for the cancellation of exams. They also made videos on the Moj app and Instagram reels thanking him.
The CM had announced in August last year that students who are due to appear for arrear exams (except for papers in the final semester) in arts and science, engineering and MCA programmes and polytechnics in Tamil Nadu would be exempted from having to take the exams. For students who had paid their exam fees and are due to appear for the tests, marks would be awarded based on the relevant guidelines laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), he had said.
Earlier, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has told the Madras High Court that an order issued by the State government on August 26, cancelling the arrear examinations for all arts and science, engineering and MCA students except those pursuing the final year of their course, was not in accordance with its guidelines.
In a counter-affidavit filed in response to a public interest litigation petition preferred by professor and former vice-chancellor of Anna University E. Balagurusamy, the AICTE said, "The Government Order declaring all the students as passed without an assessment by way of examination is against the AICTE Act."
