As the Tamil Nadu state government has permitted the resumption of schools and colleges across the state from November 16 in what has become a major set of relaxations, the students are bracing up to prepare for the new academic calendar, which has been announced by Anna University as the educational institutions are re-opening nearly after seven months. 

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has on Saturday issued fresh guidelines for the month of November with having a relief that the state has been witnessing a decline in the fresh COVID-19 cases and as per the guidelines, schools from classes 9 to 12, colleges, and all the research institutions will be permitted to re-open from November 16 based on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). 

As the educational institutions are going to resume two days after the Diwali festival,  Anna University, under which most of the engineering colleges are affiliated in the state, has issued the fresh academic calendar for the year 2020-21. According to the academic calendar, all the colleges that are affiliated with the state's top varsity have been instructed to conduct an online induction programme from November 9.

Following the induction, the classes for students in the first semester of undergraduate engineering courses will begin from November 23 and the first semester will run from November 23 to February 24, 2021, and the examinations for the first semester will begin on March 8 and after the completion of the first semester, the revised calendar will begin on April 5. While the normal semester would run through six months, the top varsity has now limited the duration of the semester as the sequel of the COVID-19 lockdown and the challenge to equate the educational year.

In its revised calendar, Anna University has instructed the colleges to mandatorily conduct classes on Saturday. The colleges that constituent to the Anna University - College of Engineering, Guindy, Alagappa College of Technology, and Madras Institute of Technology have been asked to begin the first semester for the students from Monday through online. 

The reports say that these colleges had rolled out a department-wise schedule for students who have enrolled through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions 2020 (TNEA 2020) counseling process. 

The counseling process had officially concluded on October 30 and 71,195 seats were filled at the end of four rounds of counseling against a total of 1,57,689 seats that are available under Anna University. The revised academic calendar has come a day after the state government had poured a major relaxation by permitting the resumption of schools, colleges, and theaters from November. While the schools and colleges are allowed to re-open from November 16, theaters would be re-opening from November 10. 

Along with the resumption of schools and colleges, the government has also allowed the resumption of hostels in these institutions from November 16, and these institutions are directed to re-open based on the SOPs and asked to adhere to the guidelines and protocols. Amid the resumption, the challenges that the students are braced up for would be a sudden rush to complete the academic year and to get settled down for the revised calendar. 

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