Engg students demand uniform rule on ATKT

MUMBAI, JANUARY 14: Engineering students held a demonstration at the University of Mumbai campus at Fort on Wednesday, demanding that the...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 14: Engineering students held a demonstration at the University of Mumbai campus at Fort on Wednesday, demanding that they be allowed to keep term grant for the year.

According to the students, the university issued a host of confusing ordinances last year 8212; regarding the permissible number of Allowed To Keep Term ATKT 8212; on the eve of their examinations. The number of ATKTs permitted to a student was changed by this rule. 8220;As a result of this, we couldn8217;t concentrate on any one exam, as we had to appear for so many,8221; said a student. Besides, students stated they were not informed about the fact that they did not have to compulsorily appear for the exams.

Several students went to court, demanding that the rules be waived for this year. At least one student got a favourable judgement, while others didn8217;t. Since there is still no uniform rule on whether the students 8212; belonging to various semesters 8212; should be allowed to appear for the examinations, the students have been demanding that the university come out with a common rule.

Wednesday8217;s demonstration was the second one organised with the help of the Bharatiya Vidyarti Sena BVS. One was held earlier this month. Following this, the university has decided to hold a meeting of principals of all engineering colleges on January 16. Their decision will be conveyed to the students on January 19, according to Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Naresh Chandra.

Students 8212; around 1,000 of who are said to be affected 8212; claimed that college authorities allowed them to attend classes, and work on their project, despite their having failed to clear their exams. However, they were later told that they could not get term grant. 8220;This means that our work will go waste. We are not asking to be allowed to appear for the exam. We will clear our backlog and only then appear for the exam,8221; one student said.

However, the university officials contend that at least four colleges did not allow the students who failed to attend lectures and to work on their project. The final decision will be taken after considering the problems of these students too.