BHUBANESWAR: Those planning to skip college and spend time with friends could be in for trouble with the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) asking its affiliated colleges to install bio-metric device to record attendance of students from this academic session.Earlier, several colleges and universities in the state had introduced bio-metric attendance system for teaching and non-teaching staff, but this would be the first time that such a system has been installed for students, a source said.D V Swamy, revenue divisional commissioner (northern division) and vice-chancellor in-charge of BPUT, said the decision was taken in the academic council meetings held on January 20 and June 21, respectively. "The university's management board approved the decision on July 18. Later, the university wrote to the colleges on August 16 asking them to stall the devices at their own expenses," Swamy added.There are nine government engineering and management colleges, 16 private pharmacy colleges and 124 private engineering, management and architecture colleges under the university. "We are getting good response from the colleges. They are submitting their compliance report," Swamy said.He said the device will keep data related to the attendance of students so that later they can't claim any discrepancy. "It will create transparency in the attendance system and make the system more disciplined," Swamy added.Biswajit Jena, president of the All Odisha BPUT Students' Association and a student of city-based Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, welcomed the decision. "Those students who usually bunk classes will find it difficult now. The attendance will be recorded on the bio-metric system. It will obviously bring discipline on the campus," Jena said.Tejeswar Parida, a student of Mahavir Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, said some students seldom attend classes and appear for the exams. "Once the bio-metric attendance is in place, it will stop the practice of attendance adjustment and force students to attend classes," Parida stated.The BPUT move was welcomed by Ranjan Kumar Swain, principal of Parala Maharaja Engineering College at Berhampur . "Many students do not attend classes regularly and come to college during the time of exams. But this device will compel them to attend the classes. As students with below 70 per cent attendance cannot sit for the exams, some students use proxy attendance to meet this requirement. But the bio-metric system will change this practice," Swain said.Bankim Mohanty, vice-president of Odisha management college association said he has already started the process to install the bio-metric attendance system in his college. "I welcome this decision. This system will help us keep electronic data of students' attendance. We can also show the parents whenever an issue arranges regarding attendance," he added.

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