A day after more than 250 students of Delhi University’s (DU) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College were given blanket permission to sit for the semester-end exams despite low attendance, more colleges have followed suit. However, some students claimed that college authorities had singled them out —  raising questions about the fairness of the procedure. 

Students from several colleges such as SGTB Khalsa College, Ram Lal Anand and Sri Venkateswara alleged that even though the principals had permitted students below 66.67% attendance to sit for the exams, quite a few have not been considered.

“There were almost 950 students from Khalsa College who had fallen short of attendance. There were several other students from Hansarj College, Rajdhani and Shyama Prasad Mukherji College too, who had fallen short but were being given admit cards. Even though some colleges have allowed students on compassionate grounds, there are others below 40% attendance who still need help,” said Arun Hooda, president, Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU).

The confusion arose after the university introduced a revision in Ordinance VII, which curbed the discretionary powers of principals. However, principals refuted those claims, stating that students with shortage of attendance were being allowed to sit only after their guardians had met the college authorities.

“It is completely untrue that we aren’t permitting students to appear for the exams. We are allowing all students to sit for the exams provided their parents and guardians come and meet us,” said Jaswinder Singh, principal, SGTB Khalsa College.

While DU officials continued to maintain silence over the matter, teachers said that a more realistic and clear attendance target needed to be set for every semester.