Students studying in colleges affiliated to the University of Madras will get a special opportunity - three chances to be precise - to clear the arrear papers they currently have. According to a note from the Controller of Examinations, special permission is being given to all UG and PG students whose degrees are incomplete to take three more attempts to clear their arrears - in November 2020, April 2021 and November 2021.
It may be noted that all colleges in Tamil Nadu have been instructed to hold exams from December 21 onwards in online mode. While the regular papers and schedules had been announced, students who had arrears had found themselves in a fix as the varsity had not given any intimation about when or how arrears would be held.
While physical classes and colleges have been suspended since March 2020 when the pandemic descended with all its might across the country, online classes and exams have been in effect since April. After states like Delhi and Maharashtra passed orders for exams to be cancelled and all students to be passed, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami passed a GO on August 26 ordering all colleges to promote their students based on existing forms of assessment, with the exception of those in the final years.
The Supreme Court had since ruled in favour of the UGC and said that students, especially final years, could not be promoted without some legitimate form of assessment.
Meanwhile, students who had been saddled with backlog papers that they haven't cleared for years were caught between a rock and their respective Controllers of Examinations - as there had been no news of when or how arrear exams and supplementary papers would be conducted.
Madras University sources have also announced that students who had paid the exam fees to attempt these arrear papers in April 2020 can write these supplementary exams online without having to pay for it again.
