Bhopal: MANIT students, who have been denied mid-term exams citing short attendance, have claimed that attendance rules are flawed and they should be allowed to take the exam.
The students of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology are staging sit-in for last three days to protest the management’s decision to debar 90 per cent students from appearing in the examination due to low attendance.
The protestors alleged that the management has violated the UGC rules by not giving any relaxations to deserving students. The new rules mandating 75 per cent attendance has no relaxation even on medical grounds, said students.
Even the students representing institute in national level competition, sports events, NCC/NSS camps and any other extra-curricular activities have not been given any relaxations, which is against the norms set by UGC. Besides, the 75 per cent attendance rule is for the entire academic session, however, the management has mandated it for mid-term and other exam too. Thus the students will have to fulfill the attendance criteria for mini-as well as for the mid-term exam.
The students were relaxed as they were never informed about the new rule, said a senior-professor of the institute on condition of anonymity. The management also authorized the faculty and HoDs to hold extra classes to complete the 75 per cent attendance of students. However, it was not made mandatory and it was up to them to go ahead with extra classes or not. But there is no such rule in UGC regarding this, the protesting students said.
The students of civil, mechanical and electrical continued their protest on the third day on Friday. The students claimed that the mid-term exams were cancelled as they boycott it. The students alleged that despite repeated attempts, the director refused to meet with them.
We are hopeful of a resolution on this decision by next week. The situation PRO Ajay Verma, said that the situation occurred because of some confusion among students about the rules, however, expressed hope that soon the matter would be resolved.
