Anna University has issued a circular instructing its affiliated colleges to upload the attendance details of students before August 5. It has also asked the principals to remit the exam fee for the semester collected from students by August 7.
College officials say while most of them have submitted the attendance details, some are still due. But they wonder why the colleges should remit the exam fee of the students.
Colleges generally collect the semester exam fees in March and then forward it to the University. Colleges do not issue hall tickets until the students pay all their dues.
This year, however, the institutions shut down on March 16 due to COVID-19.
Since then there was no clarity on whether the semester exams would be held. It was only a week ago that the State government decided against holding semester exams for all students except those in the final year of a programme.
The government decided to promote students using their scores in internal assessments and based on their performance in the previous semester.
The college managements told The Hindu that most students had paid the exam fees. Yet, there may be around 20-30% who have not paid yet.
A college professor said, “The students did not write any exam. How can the University ask the students to pay the exam fee, which is normally used for items like stationery and evaluation.”
Another college official said, “It would be difficult to ask the students who have yet to pay the exam fees to pay now. They are in a difficult situation,” he pointed out. For an undergraduate student the exam fee may range from ₹1,200 to ₹1,600 depending up on the year of study; for postgraduates it may range from ₹1,600 to ₹3,600, depending up on the programme.
Sai Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of Sairam Institutions, said in his college as many as 70% of the students had not paid the fees yet. “Most students will pay only when the semester exams are imminent. We have kept the portals open, but they are yet to pay,” he said.
Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa said he would check the situation with the Controller of Examinations. “I will have to check if this (non-payment by students) is a fact. Very often we have the experience of colleges collecting the fee but not paying to the University. We did not announce the results of many colleges which did not pay the exam fee.”
