Around 500 former and current students of Anna University protested in front of the Guindy campus in Chennai on Friday against the new regulations pertaining to arrears. According to the new rules in place since 2017, if students have failed a subject, they cannot appear for the same paper in the next semester, but will have to wait a year. Students say that this rule is affecting their careers, as it’s impossible for them to complete their course within the stipulated time.
Anna University is Tamil Nadu’s authority to conduct technical education courses in the state, and issue certificates. According to clause 14.2 of Regulations 2017 notified by the University, “If a student fails to secure a pass in a theory course (except electives), the student shall do reappearance registration only along with regular students for that course in the subsequent semester, when offered next, earn continuous assessment marks and attend the end semester examination,” reads the clause.
Puviraj, a second year engineering student, tells TNM, “This makes us waste six months.” For students who fail a paper in their seventh semester, this means they cannot finish the course along with their peers.
Students say that the university has also brought several other constraints to limit the number of engineering students graduating every year.
“The university, through the new regulation, has also capped the number of papers we can take for arrear exams in a semester. Previously, if say a student had eight arrear papers, he or she had the option of appearing for all eight papers in the subsequent semester. But now, they can there is an upper limit to the number of credits one can earn in a given semester,” Puviraj says.
On Friday morning, Anna University authorities met some of the protesting students and assured that they would consider their requests, the students said.
“We have given our demands in writing to the management. They have given us a verbal assurance of looking into it. But until we get an official word on their decision, we will continue our protest. We are also planning to meet the Minister for Higher Education on this issue,” Puviraj says.
The management has received a written statement of the students' demands and has assured them that a decision will be taken by January 28 on the matter.