Naveen Talawa
The Dharmashastra National Law University (DNLU) students in Jabalpur are protesting the administration’s efforts to implement the rules concerning attendance and exams.
The university’s policy, which has received criticism, states that remedial classes taken by students who don’t meet the 65 % attendance requirement must be paid Rs 7,500 per subject. Previously, students could retake exams for Rs 500 per subject while remedial classes were free.
In an email to students, the administration justified the move by stating,
Students who have a shortage of attendance in the subject taught by the concerned teacher will be required to attend remedial classes to remedy the shortage of attendance. The total number of remedial/compensatory classes in a subject shall be 30, of which students must attend 75 % or more to be eligible to write the Repeat End Term Examination. The exam could take place in the first week of September. The remedial classes will be held from August 1st to August 31st. So, to achieve this, it is proposed that each student will have to pay Rs. 7,500/- in each subject in which they have a shortage of attendance.
“It was further approved that if a student fails to put in the minimum 75% of attendance in the remedial classes then he or she shall have to forgo a year of his/her studies and pay the full annual fee for the additional year of the course.“
The move was also justified by DNLU Registrar Jalaj Goantiya, who cited Rules 5 and 7 of Ordinance II of the Ordinance of the DNLU, 2020, which contains provisions on attendance criteria and examinations. These rules were created by the university and later approved by the academic and executive councils.
According to the registrar, “…the resolution for remedial classes was adopted and passed by the Academic Council, which was subsequently approved by the University’s Executive Council as a corrective measure only.” This is done to ensure that students who had a shortage of attendance do not experience any delays in their progress or re-registration.
On the other hand, students at the university reported that on average, 40 – 45 classes were taken among all batches, whereas the Bar Council of India necessitates a total of 60 classes. They also claimed that the university has not accepted genuine medical cases and that the final attendance sheet has been changed four times, and that even after the second exam, a new attendance sheet has been created that provides for the refusal to accept medical leaves, as well as the fact that those who have already taken the exams are now barred and their answer sheets will not be checked.
Dissatisfied with the administration’s stance, DNLU students made representation to Chancellor and Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Ravi Malimath on July 27.
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