DMK president M.K. Stalin on Saturday urged the State government to extend the privilege of exemption to appear for arrear examinations to college students who had not paid the fee for the arrear papers.
The Tamil Nadu government recently exempted students of arts, science, engineering and MCA courses from appearing for the arrear examinations if they had paid the fee and announced that they would be declared as having passed in the papers.
Students have to appear only for the final semester examinations.
“It is a matter of concern that the announcement of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has not benefited the student community as a whole. The Chief Minister and the high-level committee have not taken into consideration the students who could not pay the fee because of the COVID-19 lockdown. It is condemnable,” Mr. Stalin said in a statement.
He said even though the students were asked to pay the examination fee by the end of March, they could not remit it because the lockdown was announced on March 24.
“There were reports that 70% students were not able to pay the fee. When Anna University directed colleges to send the fee, many colleges expressed their inability on the ground that many students had not paid the amount,” Mr. Stalin pointed out.
He said some colleges approached the court in this connection and it was highly condemnable that the Chief Minister had given up on the students who could not pay the fee.
Mr. Stalin claimed a lot of students and their parents were subjected to stress because of the government’s announcement.
The DMK leader also urged the Chief Minister to issue a direction to companies and institutions not to cancel the appointment letters issued to students selected during the campus interviews on the ground that final semester examinations had not yet taken place.