On Monday, December 23, Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan appealed to the Centre for rescheduling the University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) examination which is scheduled to be held on the same day as the festival. Tamil Nadu is set to celebrate the Pongal festival from January 14 to 16, 2024.
The official notice about the exam dates, dated December 19, read, "The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct UGC – NET December 2024 for (i) ‘award of Junior Research Fellowship and appointment as Assistant Professor’, (ii) ‘appointment as Assistant Professor and admission to Ph.D.’ and (iii) ‘admission to Ph.D. only’ for 85 subjects in CBT, mode from 03rd January 2025 to 16th January 2025." Writing to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Cheziaan said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the Education Ministry had scheduled the UGC-NET for December 2024 from January 3 to 16, 2025. Pongal festival falls on January 14, 2025, and Thiruvalluvar Day (Mattu Pongal) is celebrated the following day, and Farmers Day (Uzhavar Thirunal - Kanum Pongal) on January 16.
Pongal is not merely a festival but an "emblem of our culture and traditional heritage that spans over 3,000 years," the minister said and added that the Tamil Nadu government had already declared holidays from January 14 to 16, 2025, for the Pongal festival.
"If the NET exam is held during the Pongal holidays, it will hamper the preparations for the exam in view of the celebrations," he said. Further, Cheziaan said, "I therefore request your kind intervention to reschedule the UGC-NET examinations and other examinations to appropriate dates thereby ensuring that students and scholars of Tamil Nadu and other states where the harvest festival is celebrated can appear for the examinations."
In view of the Pongal festival, the Chartered Accountants Foundation examination January 2025 has been rescheduled, following a request by S Venkatesan, Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, the minister pointed out, reported the Hindustan Times.
