As many as 105 students of KES Shroff College in Kandivli West were denied hall tickets for exams beginning on April 12 over poor attendance. The students and their parents held a protest outside the college on Wednesday and demanded that the college allow them to write exams on humanitarian grounds.
Babita Parekh, the mother of a first year B.Com student, said, “So many colleges relax attendance rules for students, then why is this college refusing to do so. They are not even considering genuine medical certificates.” Though the protesters were backed by representatives of political parties, the college refused to back down.
Principal Lily Bhushan said, “Since 1998, we have been detaining students who have less than 60% attendance on the grounds of academic discipline. The MU insists on 75% attendance, but we insist on 60% using the rights vested with principals. This has been our policy and there is nothing new about it.” Over 35,715 students are likely to appear for the Semester-VI exams of the third year bachelors course in the Arts and Science stream. The protesting youths were first year students of B. Com, Arts, Science, Media Studies courses. The parents plan to resume the protest from 7 a.m. on Thursday.
Confusion over schedule
Confusion also prevailed among students over the impending summer exam schedule. Yasin Hamidani, an M.A. student in media, entertainment and advertising, said, “Our exam schedule is in disarray. Our viva voce is still not over and projects are yet to be submitted. We have been told now that the exams will be held on April 16. Our portions have not yet been covered and our teachers are asking us to learn the notes from Google. After shelling out ₹8,000 for the course fee, why are we being asked to learn from Google? Also, how can we prepare for the exam in a matter of just four days.” Many students had booked their tickets to go home as they were told that MU was likely to postpone their exams.
