Didn’t attend lectures? Give exams anyway

Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, one of the premier engineering colleges of the country, allows students with even zero per cent attendance to sit for exams and graduate, reports Swaha Sahoo.Spl: Campus Calling

For all those who want to breeze through engineering college without having to sit through mundane lectures, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), New Delhi is the place to be.

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NSIT, one of the premier engineering colleges of the country, allows students with even zero per cent attendance to sit for exams and graduate.

In a shocking display of the careless attitude of the NSIT administration and faculty, the institute has revealed in an RTI inquiry that it has allowed students with abysmal attendance to sit for exams.

The list (from 2004 to 2007) includes students whose attendance in many subjects read zero per cent, 3.8 per cent, 5 per cent, 10 per cent etc.

For the end semester examinations of semesters II, IV, VII held in May 2007, 84 students had below 75 per cent attendance.

In November 2006, 186 students did not have sufficient attendance to sit for exams.

More than 200 students fell short of the required attendance for semester exams in May 2006, with many students not attending even a single class in more than one subject.

“As per rules of Delhi University, a student must have 75 per cent attendance separately in each subject to be able to sit for exams,” said a senior professor on conditions of anonymity.

“At NSIT students are allowed to sit for exams after their parents write an undertaking. There are many habitual offenders whom we would like to detain but the administration has a different view on the matter,” said the professor.

NSIT, which is a flagship college of the Delhi government and a sister organisation of Delhi College of Engineering takes in some of the best students who don’t make it to the IITs.

At IIT Delhi for instance, 75 per cent attendance is strictly adhered to. “Even if you have 74 per cent attendance you will get F grade in that subject,” said Hitesh Negi, IIIrd year student of Mechanical Engineering.

Deputy Registrar (Academics) R.P. Kansal admitted the institution gave special concession to students. “Sometimes students have genuine problems. At times a student reaches late for class and is marked absent,” said Kansal.

“We cannot spoil the career of students and so relaxation is given,” Kansal added.

But how important is it for an engineering student to attend classes and practicals?

“If classes are not important, why do you have university system? Students could have done self study,” said Prof SR Kale, Dean (Undergraduate Studies) at IIT Delhi.