Sambalpur: Students of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) on Monday boycotted classes and staged a demonstration in front of the entrance of the main building to protest against the decision of the university authorities to make 75 per cent attendance compulsory for appearing in the semester exam.The students resorted to agitation after the GMU authorities recently issued a notification regarding the attendance guidelines.The notification says any student who has attendance below 75 per cent will not be allowed to appear in the semester examination. It further says students with attendance between 60 per cent and 75 per cent will be allowed to appear in the examination if they produce medical certificate."Many students of the institution do not have the required attendance. We were not anticipating such a decision by the authorities," said Devjyoti Pattnaik, a protesting student.He said the institution did not have proper infrastructure or teaching staff. "Because of the lack of classrooms, classes are often not held at all. On many occasions, contractual teachers are assigned to take classes. As a result, many students skip them. The university should first provide enough classrooms and teachers, then enforce the attendance rule," he added.The students, however, withdrew their agitation after discussing the matter with the administrative officials. Deputy registrar U C Pati said, "We told the students that the vice-chancellor was out of station, but would meet them after he comes back."

Stay updated with all the Latest Cuttack headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.