Attendance Should Not Decide Exam Eligibility in Indian Colleges
Attendance Should Not Decide Exam Eligibility in Indian Colleges
The Issue
Abolish the 75% Attendance Rule in Indian Colleges – Evaluate Students by Learning, Not Just Physical Attendance
Across India, many students face severe academic and emotional stress due to the 75% attendance rule.
This rule often results in:
Students being detained
Loss of an entire semester
Anxiety and mental pressure
Fear of losing academic year despite completing assignments, CA, and self-study
All of this happens not because students lack knowledge,
but because they did not warm the sit of classroom for a fixed percentage of time.
In today’s educational environment:
Students learn through online platforms
They study from YouTube, MOOCs, recorded classes
They complete CA exams, projects, assignments
They rely on self-study, which is common and effective
Despite this, many colleges still deny students the right to write their final exams solely due to attendance.
This is unfair, outdated, and academically regressive.
A Hard Question:
Why do educational rules only change after tragedies?
In recent years, several tragedies and suicides related to academic pressure — including attendance-related disputes — have gained public attention.
In one widely reported case involving a law student, attendance issues were highlighted as a major factor.
This raises an important question:
Why must the system wait for extreme situations before reconsidering rigid policies?
Why can’t reforms happen when students speak up responsibly and peacefully?
We are NOT suggesting or promoting self-harm.
We are asking for the opposite:
Listen to students BEFORE situations become extreme.
Don’t wait for tragedy to learn a lesson.
NEP 2020 Already Supports Flexible Attendance
The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) clearly promotes:
Hybrid learning
Flexible class formats
Reduced emphasis on compulsory attendance
Focus on learning outcomes rather than physical presence
Then why are colleges still punishing students with:
Detention
Missing final exams
Forced repeat of the semester
This directly contradicts the spirit of NEP.
Other Fields Already Updated Their Rules
Law Education
Attendance rules have been reconsidered by authorities after public concerns.
After the Sushant Ruhila case, several law universities
relaxed or removed the strict 75% attendance requirement.
If a serious incident can lead to reforms in law education,
why are similar reforms not implemented for B.Tech and other streams?
Are engineering students not students too?
Must every stream wait for another tragic incident before the system listens?
IIT Dhanbad
Several IITs have made lecture attendance optional.
Labs/practicals remain mandatory — which is reasonable.
NEP
Promotes flexibility, hybrid learning, and student freedom.
So why is the majority of Indian higher education still stuck in rigid attendance culture?
UGC
“Higher Education Institutions shall have the flexibility to prescribe appropriate attendance requirements for different courses, in accordance with statutory bodies or academic councils.”
UGC has already stated that attendance requirement SHOULD NOT be one fixed, universal number like 75%.
Colleges get flexibility 75% compulsory is NOT mandated by UGC.
What Students Are Asking For (Reasonable Demands)
Students are NOT demanding that all classes be made irrelevant.
We are simply requesting:
1 Reduce mandatory attendance to a reasonable limit (e.g., 40%).
2 Do NOT block exam eligibility purely because of attendance.
3 Evaluate students based on learning outcomes (CA, projects, exams).
4 Allow hybrid/optional learning — online + offline.
5 Do not waste a student’s entire semester over attendance.
These are practical, modern, and aligned with NEP 2020.
“Give students at least one opportunity to sit for the final exam.
If a student does not meet the academic standards based on exam performance, that is acceptable —
but blocking exam eligibility on attendance, without evaluating their knowledge, is fundamentally unfair.”
Our Requests
We respectfully request:
AICTE
To issue guidelines that attendance should not decide exam eligibility.
UGC
To ensure that universities cannot deny exams on attendance criteria.
Ministry of Education
To implement NEP’s flexible, outcome-based learning approach across colleges.
Universities
To adopt modern, student-friendly policies that move beyond outdated attendance enforcement.
We Want Reform — Not Post-Tragedy Reactions
Whenever something extreme happens, everyone says:
“The system should have been better.”
“The student should have been heard.”
“This could have been prevented.”
But when a student is alive, speaking responsibly, and raising concerns peacefully,
their voice often goes ignored.
This petition exists so that:
Students don’t have to suffer unnecessarily.
Rules improve without tragedies.
Education becomes modern, flexible, and humane.
We want a system that listens to students when they are ALIVE,
not when it is too late.
Sign this petition to demand:
Education should measure knowledge, not attendance.
A student’s future should depend on learning, not physical presence.
53
The Issue
Abolish the 75% Attendance Rule in Indian Colleges – Evaluate Students by Learning, Not Just Physical Attendance
Across India, many students face severe academic and emotional stress due to the 75% attendance rule.
This rule often results in:
Students being detained
Loss of an entire semester
Anxiety and mental pressure
Fear of losing academic year despite completing assignments, CA, and self-study
All of this happens not because students lack knowledge,
but because they did not warm the sit of classroom for a fixed percentage of time.
In today’s educational environment:
Students learn through online platforms
They study from YouTube, MOOCs, recorded classes
They complete CA exams, projects, assignments
They rely on self-study, which is common and effective
Despite this, many colleges still deny students the right to write their final exams solely due to attendance.
This is unfair, outdated, and academically regressive.
A Hard Question:
Why do educational rules only change after tragedies?
In recent years, several tragedies and suicides related to academic pressure — including attendance-related disputes — have gained public attention.
In one widely reported case involving a law student, attendance issues were highlighted as a major factor.
This raises an important question:
Why must the system wait for extreme situations before reconsidering rigid policies?
Why can’t reforms happen when students speak up responsibly and peacefully?
We are NOT suggesting or promoting self-harm.
We are asking for the opposite:
Listen to students BEFORE situations become extreme.
Don’t wait for tragedy to learn a lesson.
NEP 2020 Already Supports Flexible Attendance
The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) clearly promotes:
Hybrid learning
Flexible class formats
Reduced emphasis on compulsory attendance
Focus on learning outcomes rather than physical presence
Then why are colleges still punishing students with:
Detention
Missing final exams
Forced repeat of the semester
This directly contradicts the spirit of NEP.
Other Fields Already Updated Their Rules
Law Education
Attendance rules have been reconsidered by authorities after public concerns.
After the Sushant Ruhila case, several law universities
relaxed or removed the strict 75% attendance requirement.
If a serious incident can lead to reforms in law education,
why are similar reforms not implemented for B.Tech and other streams?
Are engineering students not students too?
Must every stream wait for another tragic incident before the system listens?
IIT Dhanbad
Several IITs have made lecture attendance optional.
Labs/practicals remain mandatory — which is reasonable.
NEP
Promotes flexibility, hybrid learning, and student freedom.
So why is the majority of Indian higher education still stuck in rigid attendance culture?
UGC
“Higher Education Institutions shall have the flexibility to prescribe appropriate attendance requirements for different courses, in accordance with statutory bodies or academic councils.”
UGC has already stated that attendance requirement SHOULD NOT be one fixed, universal number like 75%.
Colleges get flexibility 75% compulsory is NOT mandated by UGC.
What Students Are Asking For (Reasonable Demands)
Students are NOT demanding that all classes be made irrelevant.
We are simply requesting:
1 Reduce mandatory attendance to a reasonable limit (e.g., 40%).
2 Do NOT block exam eligibility purely because of attendance.
3 Evaluate students based on learning outcomes (CA, projects, exams).
4 Allow hybrid/optional learning — online + offline.
5 Do not waste a student’s entire semester over attendance.
These are practical, modern, and aligned with NEP 2020.
“Give students at least one opportunity to sit for the final exam.
If a student does not meet the academic standards based on exam performance, that is acceptable —
but blocking exam eligibility on attendance, without evaluating their knowledge, is fundamentally unfair.”
Our Requests
We respectfully request:
AICTE
To issue guidelines that attendance should not decide exam eligibility.
UGC
To ensure that universities cannot deny exams on attendance criteria.
Ministry of Education
To implement NEP’s flexible, outcome-based learning approach across colleges.
Universities
To adopt modern, student-friendly policies that move beyond outdated attendance enforcement.
We Want Reform — Not Post-Tragedy Reactions
Whenever something extreme happens, everyone says:
“The system should have been better.”
“The student should have been heard.”
“This could have been prevented.”
But when a student is alive, speaking responsibly, and raising concerns peacefully,
their voice often goes ignored.
This petition exists so that:
Students don’t have to suffer unnecessarily.
Rules improve without tragedies.
Education becomes modern, flexible, and humane.
We want a system that listens to students when they are ALIVE,
not when it is too late.
Sign this petition to demand:
Education should measure knowledge, not attendance.
A student’s future should depend on learning, not physical presence.
53
Petition created on November 26, 2025