26/01/2026
75% Attendance Policy: Yet Another Sadistic and Punitive Action Against Students to Attack their Democratic Rights
AIRSO JMI condemns the recent anti-student mandate of 75 percent attendance by the Jamia admin.
Taking yet another sadistic stance, JMI Registrar’s Office on the 20th January issued a notice stating that students will only be permitted to appear for Sessional Tests (Internal Assessments) only if their attendance is 75% or higher, effective from the current even semester (January-May 2026). This is applicable to both phases of Internal Assessments.
The new statement which comes in the long line of sadistic and punitive action has essentially turned internal assessments into meddling and micromanaging watch-posts with no regard for any difficult circumstances or even health crises that may arise in a city like Delhi or even the fact that many are outstation students who came to the university for better academic prospects.
The notice leaves much fate of the students to ambiguity. It does not provide clarification on the prospects of the students who will be denied entry to one of the internals. What shall become of their academic progression?
This poses a question to us. Should we stand by while the administration aggravates the already strained condition of higher education in the aftermath of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020? Should we not resist such unilateral and unrepresentative regulations accompanied with a lack of dialogue with the students, but a directive looking to ensure compliance?
We must realise that the absurdity of such ordinances rests in their obstinate insistence of quantitative physical presence, all the while turning a blind eye to the essential qualitative circumstances and the infrastructure development necessary for academic excellence. It is crucial that we, as students, raise our voice against the forced transformation of the university into training grounds for punctual corporate card punching. We, as students, must realise that it is our right to have time for our creative, critical, supplementary academic pursuit and our involvement in extra-curricular activities.
