CHENNAI: As the harvest festival of Pongal approaches in Tamil Nadu, Higher Education Minister Govi Chejian It has requested the central government to reschedule the UGC-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) 2024. Scheduled between January 3 and 16, 2025, the exam coincides with the important Pongal celebrations from January 14 to 16, 2025. The minister expressed concern that holding exams on festival days would hamper the preparation of students, especially in Tamil Nadu, where the festival is a major cultural event.
Writing a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Chejian said that the National Testing Agency under the Ministry of Education has fixed the exam schedule. UGC-NET December 2024 From January 3 to 16, 2025. Pongal festival falls on January 14, 2025 and Thiruvalluvar Day (Mattu Pongal) is celebrated the next day and Farmers Day (Ujhavar Thirunal–Kanum Pongal) on January 16.
Pongal is not just a festival, but “a symbol of our culture and traditional heritage that spans over 3,000 years,” the minister stressed and added that the Tamil Nadu government has already declared a holiday from January 14 to 16, 2025 for the Pongal festival.
“If the NET exam is held during the Pongal holidays, the preparation for the exam will be hampered in view of the festivities,” he said.
Further, Chezian said, “I therefore request your kind intervention to reschedule the UGC-NET exams and other exams on suitable dates so that students and scholars from Tamil Nadu and other states where the harvest festival is celebrated can appear for the exams.”
In view of the Pongal festival, the Chartered Accountants Foundation Exam, January 2025 has been rescheduled at the request of Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha MP S Venkatesan, the minister pointed out.