Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has exempted all college and university students in the State from clearing the arrear papers that they might have been waiting to appear for after paying the examination fee.
Students of higher education would have to sit for examinations only for the final semester papers. Already the government had exempted students other than those in the final year of their courses from writing their examinations.
Now, based on the guidelines of the UGC and AICTE the exemption has been extended to those having arrears also.
Do away with NEET: TN health minister
Health Minister C Vijaybaskar requested Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to do away with NEET for admissions to medical and dental courts and allow the State to follow the earlier pattern of taking into consideration marks obtained in the Plus Two examinations.
In a letter to the Union Minister on Wednesday, Vijaybaskar referred to the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami writing to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and also the Union Health Minister on the issue of doing away with NEET in view of the pandemic situation and how conducting the medical entrance examination would endanger the lives of students.
Vijaybaskar wanted Harsh Vardhan to direct his Ministry to promulgate an ordinance to facilitate the admission to medical and dental courses on the basis of Plus Two marks.
Earlier in the day, DMK President M K Stalin asked the government if it would join the seven States that have decided to move the Supreme Court seeking postponement of NEET and JEE this year in view of the Coronavirus crisis.
Welcoming the move by the States of Punjab, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Puducherry, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Maharashtra to approach the Supreme Court, Stalin, in a statement, thanked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for taking the initiative.
Though the DMK stand was that NEET should be cancelled, he had hoped that the AIADMK government would at least seek the postponement of the two entrance examinations to professional colleges.
