What is a day order timetable?
Many colleges in Tamil Nadu, including Government Arts College, Nandanam, don’t run a Monday-to-Friday timetable. They number their teaching days from Day Order I to Day Order VI instead. Here is how that works and why.
5 minute read. Updated 1 November 2026.
The short version
Your timetable doesn’t say what happens on Wednesday. It says what happens on Day Order III. Each working day gets the next number in the cycle, and after Day Order VI comes Day Order I again. Holidays and weekends get no day order, so the cycle simply pauses and carries on from the next working day.
Why colleges use day orders
If classes were tied to weekdays, every Monday holiday would cancel the same subjects again and again. With day orders, a holiday only delays the cycle. Whatever was due that day moves to the next working day, so over a semester each day order, and each subject, gets close to the same number of class days.
Six day orders, five working days
At GAC Nandanam in 2026–27 there are no working Saturdays, so a six-day cycle runs across a five-day week. That is why the same weekday keeps changing its day order. Look at the Mondays below: 3 August was Day Order V and 10 August was Day Order IV. The next Monday, 17 August, was Day Order III.
| Week of | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Aug | V | VI | I | II | III |
| 10 Aug | IV | V | VI | I | II |
What happens on a holiday
On 26 August 2026 the college closed for Onam and Milad-un-Nabi. Tuesday was Day Order III, Wednesday had no day order, and Thursday continued with Day Order IV. Nothing was skipped. Day Order IV just arrived a day later.
| Date | Day | Day order |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug | Monday | II |
| 25 Aug | Tuesday | III |
| 26 Aug | Wednesday | Onam, Milad-un-Nabi - Holiday |
| 27 Aug | Thursday | IV |
| 28 Aug | Friday | V |
The working-day count
Next to the day order, the calendar numbers every working day of the semester. For example, 3 August 2026 was working day 35 of the odd semester. The count tells you how far into the semester you are, and it is the number your attendance is usually measured against. Our attendance calculator uses the same idea.
A new semester starts again at Day Order I
The cycle doesn’t carry over between semesters. The last working day of the 2026 odd semester, 28 October, happened to be Day Order I, and when the college reopens for the even semester on 23 November 2026, it starts again from Day Order I. See odd and even semesters, explained for the full timeline.
How to find today’s day order
- Check the printed academic calendar or the department notice board.
- Open the Nandanam Academic Calendar. It shows today’s day order and working-day count on the first screen, in English or Tamil.
- Write your timetable by day order, not by weekday, and keep a photo of it on your phone. Then you only need one number each morning.
The college can change dates during the year, for example for rain holidays or special events. When it does, the official notice takes priority over any calendar, printed or online.