Arrear exam row: AICTE condemns TN Government's decision to graduate all the arrear students

The future of thousands of students who have pending backlogs in their Engineering course are left confused in the ongoing rift between the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Anna University and the government of Tamil Nadu. While the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had announced that the students who had paid their fees for arrear examinations will be declared pass without having to write the exams, the ongoing arrear issue took a new turn when a personal email addressed to the Vice-Chancellor of Anna University surfaced on the internet.

The mail was supposedly sent by the AICTE Chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe, dated August 30. The mail read   “It’s surprising that final year degree students, who had failed in various courses in the earlier semesters are being passed without conducting examinations. This is not acceptable to award marks without conducting any examination and graduating the students. Such students will not be recognised by industry or by other universities for higher education. AICTE will be constrained to withdraw the approval of Anna University,” 

Further AICTE Director, Anil Sahasrabuddhe in his statement today, Anil had condemned the decision of Government of Tamil Nadu to pass all the engineering students including those who have backlogs. He went on further and questioned that how can the students be declared pass, without appearing for exams. He also affirmed that he had sent a mail regarding the same to Anna University.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Higher Education KP Anbalagan cleared the air stating that the TN Government has not sent any official mails/ communication to AICTE on its decision about conducting arrear exams. He further said that any such official communication made, if any in future, will be announced in public.