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        It was a mixed year for Tamilnadu as far as education is concerned. The Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to professional courses was in the news for various reasons right through.

Madras University Vice- Chancellor S Ramachandran

The Bill to abolish CET, formation of a separate Ministry for Higher Education and diluting the syllabus for students appearing in board examinations can be counted among the major events in the education arena in 2006.         As in the past, the CET row raged. The previous AIADMK government announced the scrapping of CET early this year. However it was challenged in court and the direction was that students would be admitted through CET for the ensuing academic year.         Taking cue from the previous government, the DMK regime which assumed office in May, formed a committee of educational experts under the chairmanship of former Anna University Vice-Chancellor         M Ananthakrishnan in July to recommend suitable measures for abolition of CET from the academic year 2007-'08.

        The committee after holding public hearings submitted a report to the government in November.

        The DMK government which was eager to abolish CET and put an end to the problems continuing over the years, formed a separate Ministry for Higher Education, which was headed by K Ponmudy.

        Introducing the Bill in the Assembly, Ponmudy said as a bulk of students appearing for the CET came from rural areas, they had little access to coaching classes. Also, CET had become an unnecessary hardship for students and in their (students') interests, the government has decided to abolish CET, he announced.

        Students would be admitted through normalisation process, where the highest mark obtained by the students of various boards in each subject shall be equated to the highest mark obtained by the students of State Board in that subject and the relative marks obtained by other students in that subject shall be determined accordingly, Ponmudy said.

        Under the normalisation process, students from CBSE stream would have an edge and one has to see how the government reacts if students move to the court against abolition of CET.
 

President A P J Abdul Kalam and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at the 150th year celebration of Madras University. Governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Union Ministers are among those present.

        At Anna University, it was a year to rejoice. Global information technology giant IBM agreed to give Anna University and its affiliated engineering colleges, software free of cost to benefit both students and faculty. The university under Vice-Chancellor D Viswanathan signed MoUs with various foreign universities and institutions for joint academic and research programmes.

        Also, under the State-level Placement Cell, Anna University conducted campus interviews where large number of software companies picked up young talents.

        The year also saw the State government passing a Bill to establish two more technical universities on the lines of Anna University in Chennai. Ponmudy, who moved the Bill, said after Anna University became the affiliating University for Engineering colleges in the State in 2001, managing the affairs of 240 engineering colleges had become a 'near impossibility'.

        Two more technical universities would be established at Tiruchi and Coimbatore to ensure better and effective monitoring of the colleges.

        They would be named 'Anna University, Tiruchi' and 'Anna University, Coimbatore', he said and added that the existing Anna University would be called as 'Anna University, Chennai'.

        For Madras University, the day-to-day activities were on the rise with President A P J Abdul Kalam inaugurating the 150th year Foundation Day Celebrations of the university in September. Also, the renovated Senate House was opened by Kalam on the occasion.

        At a grand function, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi launched the Centre for Research on Dravidian Movement and announced a grant of Rs 5 crore for its establishment.

        Also, the Union HRD Ministry sanctioned a major grant of Rs 100 crore to Madras University for setting up of Centre for Nanosciences and Nano-technology. The State government also sanctioned Rs five crore for the Centre.

        S Ramachandran, Director, Centre for Research, Institute for Ocean Management, Anna University, was appointed the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras in September.

        Taking charge of the new assignment, the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the university, Ramachandran assured that the syllabus would be revamped as per the needs of the industry. The university also signed pacts with foreign institutions for academic collaborations.

        The university has also decided to merge some 30 departments which have three to four students, as a means of cost-cutting by reducing department maintenance expenditure. The university also organised its first in-campus job fair where around 15,000 students both from the university and its affiliated colleges took part.

        In school education, there were series of measures taken up by the School Education Minister Thangam Thenarasu. Set back by the poor performance by students in board examination, the Ministry decided to hold district-wise review meetings.

        Also, a simplified Plus Two syllabus was presented to the government by M Naganathan, Vice-Chairman, State Planning Commission.

        The State government decided to delete some of the hard portions from the syllabus for the students appearing for the board examination in 2007.

        Though the government has taken steps to dilute the syllabus for students, there was criticism from a section of academicians on the standards of school education.

        The year concluded with the government's gesture in conducting first 'O' level examination for Sri Lankan refugees. Over 60 students appeared for the examination and thanked Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for his timely help.