<p>Many Delhi University students might not be allowed to sit for their exams next month because of shortage of attendance, a problem teachers attribute to the ‘unfair’ semester system.<br /></p>.<p>This is a repeat of the situation in November. <br /><br />Students had hoped there would a review of the attendance requirement under the controversial semester system which was implemented in 2011 for all undergraduate courses. But teachers told Deccan Herald that there has been be no review of the decision.<br /><br />In November, over 300 first semester students detained as they were falling short of the stipulated attendance.<br />New rule<br />The new rule says under the semester system students with less than 66.67 per cent attendance cannot sit for the exams. However, in special cases, principals can relax the <br />rule, provided the attendance is between 40 and 66.67 per cent.<br />According to Abha Dev Habib, professor of Physics in Miranda House, the changes in the attendance structure from the annual mode to the semester mode is not well thought out. <br />The annual mode had 180 teaching days a year. Each year, the attendance requirement was different. For the first year, it was 40 per cent, whereas in the second year, a cumulative 55 per cent for both years was needed. <br />“So if the students didn’t have enough attendance in the first year, they could make it up in the second year by signing a bond. In the third year, the total of three years’ average percentage was counted which needed to come up to 67 per cent,” said Habib. In the new semester system, attendance requirement changed to 66.67 per cent each three-month semester. <br />The attendance ordinances were amended by former vice chancellor Deepak Pental in 2010 using emergency powers which now mandated that only students attending two-thirds (66.67 per cent) of the classes in a semester will be only allowed to take the exams.<br />“Before amendment, Ordinance VII 2. (2) was supposed to be read along with an AC resolution which provided the previous attendance break ups,” Habib said.<br />“During the last semester exams, we witnessed chaos as some colleges refused to implement the rule all together. While Dyal Singh College implemented the rule in toto, other colleges, after having informal okay from university officials, stopped students only if they had attendance of less than 40 per cent,” she said.<br /><br />Colleges which refused to let first semester students last time included Zakir Husain Evening College (39 students), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (nearly 40 students), Dyal Singh college (190 students), Acharya Narendra Dev College (33 students) and Janki Devi Memorial College (20 to 25 students).<br /></p>
<p>Many Delhi University students might not be allowed to sit for their exams next month because of shortage of attendance, a problem teachers attribute to the ‘unfair’ semester system.<br /></p>.<p>This is a repeat of the situation in November. <br /><br />Students had hoped there would a review of the attendance requirement under the controversial semester system which was implemented in 2011 for all undergraduate courses. But teachers told Deccan Herald that there has been be no review of the decision.<br /><br />In November, over 300 first semester students detained as they were falling short of the stipulated attendance.<br />New rule<br />The new rule says under the semester system students with less than 66.67 per cent attendance cannot sit for the exams. However, in special cases, principals can relax the <br />rule, provided the attendance is between 40 and 66.67 per cent.<br />According to Abha Dev Habib, professor of Physics in Miranda House, the changes in the attendance structure from the annual mode to the semester mode is not well thought out. <br />The annual mode had 180 teaching days a year. Each year, the attendance requirement was different. For the first year, it was 40 per cent, whereas in the second year, a cumulative 55 per cent for both years was needed. <br />“So if the students didn’t have enough attendance in the first year, they could make it up in the second year by signing a bond. In the third year, the total of three years’ average percentage was counted which needed to come up to 67 per cent,” said Habib. In the new semester system, attendance requirement changed to 66.67 per cent each three-month semester. <br />The attendance ordinances were amended by former vice chancellor Deepak Pental in 2010 using emergency powers which now mandated that only students attending two-thirds (66.67 per cent) of the classes in a semester will be only allowed to take the exams.<br />“Before amendment, Ordinance VII 2. (2) was supposed to be read along with an AC resolution which provided the previous attendance break ups,” Habib said.<br />“During the last semester exams, we witnessed chaos as some colleges refused to implement the rule all together. While Dyal Singh College implemented the rule in toto, other colleges, after having informal okay from university officials, stopped students only if they had attendance of less than 40 per cent,” she said.<br /><br />Colleges which refused to let first semester students last time included Zakir Husain Evening College (39 students), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (nearly 40 students), Dyal Singh college (190 students), Acharya Narendra Dev College (33 students) and Janki Devi Memorial College (20 to 25 students).<br /></p>
