MP: MANIT students protest over 75% attendance rule; issue solved after talks, says top official

BHOPAL: Some students of the prestigious Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Bhopal on Thursday staged a sit-in and locked the facility's main gate seeking relaxation in the 75 per cent attendance criteria for writing examinations. The day-long protest ended after talks between the management and students, MANIT Academics Dean Dr Arvind Mittal told PTI in the evening. "The students have agreed on 75 per cent attendance. We have sorted out some minor problems they had. Without compromising on the ordinance (of minimum 75 per cent attendance), the matter has been resolved," Dr Mittal said.

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The protest began in the morning with the demand to scrap the 75 per cent attendance norm and allowing all those in the final year to appear for examinations without any attendance criteria, a student told PTI on condition of anonymity. "Final year students need time to prepare for placements. Firms that approach us ask us to prepare different sets of skills," he claimed. Meanwhile, MANIT Registrar Binod Doley said the 75 per cent attendance norm was applicable in all national institutes of technologies across the country as it was an ordinance.