Telangana enforces 75% attendance in degree colleges

HYDERABAD : The state government mandates a minimum 75 per cent attendance for degree students to be eligible for annual examinations, fee reimbursement and other scholarships.

The higher education department decides to cancel fee reimbursement and central and state scholarships if attendance falls below the threshold. Students with inadequate attendance will also not be permitted to write annual examinations.

Until now, the 75 per cent attendance rule applied only to government degree colleges. Private college students were allowed to take exams even without attending classes regularly. The government identifies this as a factor behind declining enrolment in government colleges and decides to enforce the rule across all institutions.

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Uniform attendance system across institutions

The decision is taken at a high-level meeting chaired by higher education secretary Yogita Rana at the Secretariat on Thursday. Technical education commissioner Sridevasena, Telangana State Council of Higher Education chairman Balakista Reddy and vice-chancellors of state universities attend the meeting.

From the next academic year, all degree colleges must implement the Student Registration and Attendance Compliance (SRC) system to track attendance.

Changes in admissions and course structure

Officials decide to release the Degree Online Services, Telangana (DOST) notification only after Intermediate results. Colleges with less than 15 per cent admissions will allow students to shift to other colleges through a sliding option.

Private colleges conducting admissions outside DOST will be brought under its purview. Authorities warn that show-cause notices will be issued to institutions that fail to comply.

The meeting also reviews the ‘bucket system’, which allows students to choose subjects across groups, and decides to constitute a committee to improve it.