DESAM halts Manipur college exam form fill-up over low attendance

The Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has announced that it is "banning" the examination form fill-up process at colleges affiliated to Manipur University (MU) until the state's Directorate of Higher Education lays down a clear rule on students with poor attendance.

In a statement issued in Imphal on Sunday, November 9, the student body said it would be wrong to let students with very low attendance sit for college examinations, and that the form fill-up process should stay on hold until the Directorate settles the question.

Attendance records to go to the Directorate

DESAM has proposed a procedure for the Directorate to decide eligibility. Heads of departments in each college should send students' attendance records to the Directorate through their principals, the group said, and the Director should then decide on the basis of those records whether a student can fill up the form and appear in the examinations.

It is not yet clear how colleges or Manipur University will respond to the call. Neither the university nor the Directorate of Higher Education had publicly reacted to the statement at the time of writing.

Pending results and examiners' dues

The student body has also set a November 20 deadline for Manipur University's Controller of Examinations to declare the results of examinations that have already been held. It asked the authorities to release pending honoraria, with interest, owed to teachers who set question papers and evaluated answer scripts.

DESAM further accused the director of the university's College Development Council of starting courses for which colleges have no teachers, and asked for a clarification on this by the same date.

Geofencing and staff shortages

The group urged the Directorate of Higher Education to keep its promise to introduce geofencing-based attendance systems in colleges so that teachers' attendance can be tracked as well.

It said visits by its members to Manipur College and L Sanoi College in Nambol showed that colleges were short of teaching staff, laboratory equipment and other basic infrastructure, and that the Directorate had done little despite repeated assurances to improve conditions.

Student organisations in Manipur often use such "bans" to press demands on the education administration. NEInsider will update this story if the Directorate of Higher Education or Manipur University responds.