JNU to make attendance compulsory, students fume

New Delhi: From the 2018-19 academic year, students across all programmes at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will require students to fulfill a minimum attendance criteria, a circular issued by the varsity on December 22 stated.

This will be the first time the varsity will record the number of classes attended by each student.

The move, however, has not gone down well with a section of students, who allege the decision has been taken without consulting their representatives.

They added that making attendance mandatory was against the varsity's tradition.

The circular mentions that the proposal to make attendance mandatory was approved in the academic council meet held on December 1.

However, JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) said that no decision in this regard was reached in the meeting.

"Attendance was not discussed in the academic council meeting with students or teachers. It was not even on the agenda. The Vice-Chancellor had mentioned something about this, saying they would do it but no firm decision had been made," said a member from JNUSU.

She added that the Union will not recognised the varsity's 'diktat' over attendance.

"In the last two years, the V-C has tried to destroy the inclusive and democratic character of our campus through anti-student policies one after another, such as massive research seat cut, decimation of reservation, withdrawal of deprivation points etc," JNUSU said in a statement.

The statement further said that the idea behind not having an attendance system was to encourage both teacher and students to evolve methods to ensure there is effective teaching and participation of students in the class.

"It is highly absurd to impose compulsory attendance on campus, which has always been rated the best University none other than the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development and other government agencies," it said.

It also claimed that compulsory attendance can become a weapon in the hands of the administration to harass students, as is seen in other universities where BJP appointed V-C's are at helm.