<span style="color: #222222;">Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has announced that all college and polytechnic students who have paid exam fees and are awaiting the exams are exempted from writing them. However, those awaiting their final semester papers need to write them.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, the total infection is marching towards the four lakh mark. 5958 people were tested positive today taking the total to over three lakh 97 thousand. However, the active caseload in the state is about 52 thousand.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR correspondent, the Covid-19 pandemic has made education one of the casualties globally this year. Fearing the viral spread, examinations were initially delayed for colleges and schools and then abandoned except the final semester exams.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Based on the UGC and the AICTE guidelines, the Tamil Nadu Government issued an order on 27th July that the regular students barring those in final semester will be awarded marks based on their past performance including internal assessments.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">There were demands from the candidates who have arrears to extend the privilege to them also. Accepting the demand, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has today said, all those who have paid the fees for the examinations except for the last semester will be exempted from writing them.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A detailed order on the method of assessing their performance is expected in a few days. The move is set to help over seven lakh students across the state, as it covers the engineering, arts, science undergraduate and postgraduate and polytechnic classes. </span><br />''