Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin appealed to union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday, 7 January, to reschedule the UGC-NET exams proposed to be held during the Pongal festival season.
Seeking his immediate intervention, the chief minister noted in a letter addressed to the central minister that it was announced that the UGC-NET examinations and other examinations would be held from 13–16 January. However, in Tamil Nadu, the harvest festival of Pongal is celebrated for four days from 13 January every year.
'These dates are well-known and the entire Tamil community celebrates the four days’ Pongal festival with fervour. The government of Tamil Nadu has already declared 14–17 January as holidays,’ the CM said in the letter.
He argued that it would cause hardship to a large number of candidates if the proposed exams were conducted during the Pongal holidays.
'I am given to understand that the Chartered Accountants Foundation examination of January 2025, has already been rescheduled for the same reason,' Stalin pointed out.
Hence, he considered that there was a real need to reschedule the exams to appropriate dates, thereby ensuring that students and scholars of Tamil Nadu and other states where the harvest festival is celebrated can appear for the examinations.
