While cancellation of board examinations marked the end of the academic year 2020-21 following the surge in COVID-19 cases, educational institutions in Tamil Nadu slowly reopened their campuses for physical classes in phases starting in September. The transition from online classes to offline education was smooth for the most part, with teachers and students adapting to COVID-19 safety protocols.
Despite the transition, the School Education Department announced offline revision tests for Classes X and XII. The final exams for these classes is scheduled for May 2022, instead of March, and the revision tests will be conducted in January-end and March.
The year saw some incidents of indecorous behaviour by teachers with girl students during online classes. The deaths by suicide of a few schoolgirls rocked the State, and the government vigorously promoted its helpline 14417 to prevent more deaths.
The government offered 7.5% reservation for students of government schools in engineering college admissions as well. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s announcement to waive the tuition and boarding fee for government school students admitted through single-window counselling was a game-changer.
The State also launched the llam Thedi Kalvi Scheme to bring school education to students’ doorstep to update skills after school hours.
As many as 10 arts and science colleges were opened during the year.
The government’s decision to declare all college students having arrears as having “passed” without an examination was caught in a legal row. The All India Council for Technical Education and the University Grants Commission were insistent that students write their exams to graduate. The new DMK Government averred that offline exams in the conventional pattern would be held.
Backed by the Justice A.K. Rajan Committee Report, the government adopted the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021, to dispense with “NEET-based admissions” and instead admit students on the basis of their Plus Two scores. However, the Bill is stuck at the Raj Bhavan and will test how the DMK fulfils its electoral promise of abolishing NEET.
Delayed counselling
Tamil Nadu added 11 medical colleges, with approximately 1,500 government seats, but a series of cases in the Supreme Court lead to the postponement of counselling, including for postgraduate programmes, to next year.
The delay also affected the admission process for the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. Anna University and some affiliated top-rung colleges will vacate many seats when the counselling for medical admission begins.
To address the situation, the Higher Education Department announced a second round of counselling for the first time. But the uncertainty surrounding medical admission has hampered the plans.
