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Journalism of Courage
In a major policy shift, the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad (IIT ISM Dhanbad) has scrapped the requirement of minimum attendance for its students. The Senate has approved a “no mandatory attendance policy” for all undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students with immediate effect.
Breaking away from convention, IIT ISM Dhanbad has become the first among the 23 IITs to abolish the 75 per cent minimum attendance rule, announcing that UG, PG, and PhD students will no longer face any penalties linked to classroom attendance from the 2025–26 academic year.
Students at IIT ISM Dhanbad were proposing a relaxation in the policy that requires 75 per cent attendance to be eligible to appear for final exams.
According to the notification, students will now be allowed to appear for examinations in their registered courses irrespective of class attendance. No student will be penalised for falling short of the earlier minimum attendance criteria. However, instructors will continue to record attendance using the existing digital app through their teaching assistants.
The policy also extends to full-time PhD scholars, who can avail this relaxation for coursework requirements. At the same time, the institute has clarified that fellowship and assistantship-related duties must still be fulfilled, and stipend disbursement will continue to be linked to departmental attendance practices.
Further, hostellers have been directed to inform their wardens in writing before staying out overnight, ensuring accountability despite the relaxed classroom attendance norms.
The decision is expected to bring relief to students who have long demanded flexibility in academic attendance, especially given the increasing emphasis on self-paced learning, research, and internships across IITs.
Also, the higher education regulatory body, the University Grants Commission (UGC) Secretary Manish Joshi, earlier while speaking at a talk in Pune said that it could look into relaxing its guidelines that mandate 75 per cent attendance in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
