CHENNAI: As the harvest pageant of Pongal approaches in Tamil Nadu, Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan has urged the Union authorities to reschedule the UGC-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) 2024. Scheduled between January 3 and 16, 2025, the exam coincides with the essential Pongal celebrations, which fall from January 14 to 16, 2025. The Minister expressed concern that holding the exam throughout these festive days would disrupt preparations for college students, particularly in Tamil Nadu, the place the pageant is a significant cultural occasion.
Writing to Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, Cheziaan stated that the National Testing Agency below the Education Ministry has scheduled the UGC-NET December 2024 from January 3 to 16, 2025. Pongal pageant falls on January 14, 2025 and Thiruvalluvar Day (Mattu Pongal) is well known the next day and the Farmers Day (Uzhavar Thirunal– Kanum Pongal) on January 16.
Pongal was not merely a pageant, however an “emblem of our culture and traditional heritage that spans over 3,000 years,” the Minister underlined and added that the Tamil Nadu authorities had already declared holidays from January 14 to 16, 2025 for the Pongal pageant.
“If the NET exam is held during the Pongal holidays, it will hamper the preparations for the exam in view of the celebrations,” he stated.
Further, Cheziaan stated, “I therefore request your kind intervention to reschedule the UGC-NET examinations and other examinations 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.”
In view of the Pongal pageant, the Chartered Accountants basis examination, January 2025 has been rescheduled, following a request by S Venkatesan, Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, the Minister identified.
most recent
Current affairs quiz Hindi
current affairs quiz questions Hindi 7th February 2025
