Students of colleges affiliated to the University of Madras who were declared promoted despite having arrears are now taking the exams. Some are already in the midst of the exams, while others will take them in the coming days.
The university has issued oral instructions to the colleges to conduct the exams. As a result, all those who were admitted to postgraduate programmes and those who had supposedly graduated are taking the exams online.
The exams are, however, limited to those who had paid their arrears fees in March, the colleges noted.
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and the University of Madras had promoted even those who had arrears and had paid the tuition fees. The decision was taken in view of the lockdown, which resulted in the suspension of classes. It was the start of the end-semester exams when the lockdown was announced.
New College principal Basheer Ahmed said, “We want to be on the safer side, so we have asked all our students to take the exams. Everything is online.”
When Anna University’s decision to promote all students with arrears was challenged in court, the University of Madras and Manonmaniam Sundaranar University were included as respondents as they had also done so. The case will be heard on January 11.
Colleges have given different names to the exams though. Some call them improvement exams as this would mean the students have taken the exams to improve scores. However, the exams are mandatory for all students.
