Surendranath Law College attendance dispute
Students are required to have a minimum 65% attendance to be allowed to appear for their semester exams. At Surendranath Law College, 700 out of 900 students were initially found with attendance lower than 65% that barred them from filling their exam forms. Calcutta University granted the law college an extended deadline to fill forms for exams in semesters 2, 4, 6 and 8 and the campus authorities on Wednesday started preparations for students’ document verification ahead of the final date of Sept 21.
In protest, a group of students reportedly confined the vice-principal Mohammadi Tarannum to her office for two days and then, forced her to resign. The college has published a list of candidates with their attendance details. A notice issued by the vice-principal reiterated that attendance in scheduled online classes was mandatory: “Every student concerned is hereby directed to attend every class as per the notified routine and to comply with all instructions issued by the college and the concerned teachers. The notice also asked the teachers to conduct classes online and record attendance in the ERP.
Kolkata: Surendranath Law College on Wednesday issued a notice, offering students an option for online classes to make up for their attendance shortfall. Tarannum returned to the campus on Tuesday and broke the stalemate While students boycotted classes on Monday.
Before the final date of filling forms, the college will release a final attendance record of the 700 students, who don’t have the minimum number, and will allow only those who meet the 65% criterion to fill their forms.
Those who followed that process would get 100% attendance without attending even a single class. Several students have sent a declaration to the college, signed by their parents, stating from the next semester, they will attend every class, but asking they be granted relief this time. Students should be given time to come out of this mindset. I hope we will all receive the benefit of this relaxation. The college has made it clear that form submission is not an automatic or unconditional confirmation of attendance but fulfilling all other eligibility conditions.
Prajjwal Santra, an eighth-semester student, alleged, “We are not against attending classes but earlier, our attendance depended on the number of Trinamool rallies and events we attended.