As the sequel of soaring Covid cases with the emergence of the third wave, the Tamil Nadu government has on Monday announced that the university exams would be deferred indefinitely. The development has thrown more lights on the speculations that the state would get imposed with more restrictions in the coming days to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant. The announcement has come when Tamil Nadu has been recording a huge jump in daily Covid cases. 

While addressing a press conference on Monday - January 10, Tamil Nadu Minister for Higher Education K Ponmudi said that all university examinations have been postponed in light of surging Covid cases in the state. He said that the decision of deferring the examinations was taken after consultation with Chief Minister MK Stalin. He highlighted that though written exams are postponed indefinitely, practical examinations will be conducted.

He has advised the students to make use of the holidays to study their subjects. He appealed to the students to stay at home and learn what was taught to them. He also underlined that if the government receives any information about any colleges conducting written exams, strict action will be taken against them. He further said that the decision about the new dates for the exams will be taken considering the Covid-19 cases in the state. 

Earlier, the state government has announced that the university examinations will be conducted after January 20, 2022. However, ten days ahead of the stipulated date, the government has deferred the exams. The state government has on January 5 rolled out a fresh round of restrictions to the state to contain the spread of the pandemic. The restrictions include Sunday lockdowns and night curfew. 

As per the restrictions, the government has said that only online classes will be held for classes 1 to 9 while the students from classes 10 to 12 can attend the schools owing to the forthcoming board examinations. Besides medical colleges, the government has ordered to shut down all other colleges and also imposed restrictions on travel and places of worship. 

According to Tamil Nadu Health Department, the state has recorded 12,985 Covid cases, 1,808 discharges, and 12 deaths on Sunday - January 9. Overall, the state has recorded 28,00,286 cases so far as of Sunday of which 51,335 are active, 27,12,096 were discharged, and 36,855 had succumbed to the viral infection. So far, the state has reported 185 cases of the Omicron variant of which 179 cases have been recovered and discharged.