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Aurobindo College students told to sign undertaking for attendance
In May, students of the varsity complained about several colleges not issuing admit cards and “detaining” them on grounds of “short attendance” ahead of the semester exams on May 8. Students had also submitted a memorandum to university officials, requesting relaxation in attendance.
To tackle the problem of attendance shortage among students, Sri Aurobindo College, affiliated to the Delhi University, will, this year, ask pupils to sign an undertaking for mandatory attendance.
“The move is part of a sensitisation programme for students to ensure they secure the minimum attendance of 67% as mandated by the university,” said Vipin Aggarwal, principal of Sri Aurobindo College. He also said the undertaking would include a line stating that the college could take action against the students if they fail to have minimum attendance.
“Though the minimum attendance policy has been around for years, often colleges cannot enforce it strictly,” Aggarwal said. “When the government is spending so much money on students, we want to make sure that the students focus on their undergraduate courses,” he added.
Last year, the college had sent out letters to parents of around 1,400 students over shortage of attendance. “That helped in ensuring maximum attendance and we hope this year’s move takes it further,” Aggarwal said.
In May, students of the varsity complained about several colleges not issuing admit cards and “detaining” them on grounds of “short attendance” ahead of the semester exams on May 8. Students had also submitted a memorandum to university officials, requesting relaxation in attendance.
This year, the college will also focus on improving its sports teams. “We haven’t been able to perform well in sports. So that will be one of the areas of focus this year,” Aggarwal said. He added that since the college’s director of physical education is a national-level kabaddi player, the college will make efforts to get better players and build a strong team.
“We have sports funds left from last year and we will use it to upgrade the infrastructure and whatever facilities needed to work on the team,” he said.
The college offers around 1,000 undergraduate seats in humanities and science programmes such as English, Political Science, Life Sciences, and Electronics. An evening college also functions from the premises, offering English, Economics and applied psychology among other things.
