Semester exams in Tamil Nadu postponed till January 2022, a victory to protesting students

Tamil Nadu's Minister For Higher Education, K Ponmudi, said, on November 19, that the semester exams for all streams and colleges in the state have been postponed by two months in order to give students more time to prepare for offline exams. The semester exams will begin only after January 20, 2022.

The past few days saw a section of students protesting and demanding that the semester exams be conducted online. The Times of India reported that the higher education department, along with Controllers of Examinations from state universities, discussed with eleven different student organisations regarding their opposition to offline exams. These include the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students' Federation (AISF).

"The representatives of student organisations wanted offline mode exams. However, they wanted more time to prepare for the exams. They said students have been attending offline classes only for the last two and half months. They have asked for a month's time to prepare for the exams. We have decided to give them two months' time," Ponmudi told the reporters in Chennai.

The state government would withdraw the cases filed against protesting students, he added. He also assured that universities and colleges would finish the syllabus before the start of the semester exams and conduct model exams prior to the main exams.