Chennai : Unable to complete the syllabus due to continuous holidays, several higher education institutes in the city will have weekend classes to compensate the loss.
Colleges were shut for nearly 10 days after the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Cyclone Vardah. When the institutions were planning to gear up for a tight schedule after Pongal holidays, protests over Jallikattu ban had begun forcing most of them to close down their shutters.
According to All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) norms, every semester should have 65 to 90 working days including examinations. As colleges reopened on Monday, many have announced that
special classes would be conducted every Saturday this semester as compensation.
“We have lost around 15 working days and all four university departments, affiliated and constituent colleges will have classes on all Saturdays until this semester ends (May)”, said the director of academic courses, Anna University, T V Geetha.
S Chandramohan, Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Anna University, said second-semester classes for first-year students began only on January 2 and Saturday classes would continue depending on the requirement. “Professors will get compensation offs for working on Saturdays,” he added.
Not just technical institutions, several arts and science colleges including Pachaiyappa’s and Loyola would also be taking a similar route.
S Vincent, Dean of Research, Loyola College, said they needed more time to cover all five units in every subject apart from seminars and projects. “We have roughly covered half the portions and these classes will help us in completing portions for the continuous assessment tests scheduled to begin later this month before the semester exams,” he added.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.