State universities across Bihar have been directed to forbid students from sitting in examinations if they have less than 75 per cent attendance.
A communication to this effect has been issued to all vice-chancellors (VCs) by the office of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who happens to be the chancellor of the state universities.
In a letter (dated August 23) to all VCs, Robert L Chongthu, principal secretary to the governor, said, "Students having less than 75 per cent attendance shall not be allowed to appear in university examinations. It is directed that the examination forms of those students whose attendance is less than 75 per cent should not be accepted. In special cases only (those having valid reasons), students having less than 75 per cent attendance will be allowed to appear in university examinations after proper scrutiny."
"It has come to the notice that colleges are allowing students having less than 75 per cent attendance to appear in university exams. The chancellor is not happy with this practice and he has directed to issue an order in this regard to ensure that 75 per cent mandatory attendance is strictly followed before allowing students to appear in university examination," said the letter.
This directive from the Raj Bhavan came hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met the Governor on Wednesday amid the state education department's tussle with the chancellor's office over the appointment of VCs in different universities.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Raj Bhavan said the CM and the governor discussed ways to find a solution to the issues related to universities and higher education.
The chief minister's meeting with the governor took place a day after the state education department invited applications for the post of vice-chancellors in different universities, less than a week before the last date for submission of applications in advertisements issued by the Raj Bhavan.
Raj Bhavan invited applications for the post of VCs in Patna University, Lalit Narayan Mithila University in Darbhanga, Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur, Jai Prakash University in Chapra, BN Mandal University in Madhepura and Aryabhatta Knowledge University in Patna.
The education department on Tuesday also invited applications for five of these varsities, except for the BN Mandal University and Aryabhatta Knowledge University. The terms and conditions for the posts are almost the same in both advertisements, except for the last date for submission of applications.
