In a step to begin the academic year 2020-21, the merit list for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) is expected to be released on Monday. The state minister for higher education KP Anbalagan is expected to release the merit list on Monday evening at the Central Polytechnic College campus in Taramani, Chennai. As per reports, the rank list was originally scheduled to be released on September 7. It was then postponed to September 17 and then to September 25 by the admissions committee.
Based on the list, students will be called for counselling for allocation of courses and colleges based on their marks, community and preferences. For the first time in the history of undergraduate engineering admissions in Tamil Nadu, certificate verification of the candidates was conducted online this year due to the lockdown restrictions in place due to COVID-19.
According to the Directorate Of Technical Education (DOTE) Tamil Nadu, around 1.6 lakh candidates have applied for admissions into engineering programmes this year, of which around 1.1 lakh students have uploaded their certificates online.
Schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu have been shut since the last week of March as precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus. Though colleges and universities are in full swing, scheduling and conducting exams for students in their final semester, there is no official word on when the colleges will reopen.
Meanwhile, schools in Tamil Nadu have been permitted to resume partial functioning for students of classes 10, 11 and 12 from October 1 with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued in this regard, in place.
The parents have been given an option to send their children to schools on a voluntary basis and only 50% teachers have been asked to come to school, based on requirement. Like in many government offices, teachers have been asked to follow a two-week duty and two-week rest cycle to keep the risk of infection at bay.