SSPU Have made 75% attendance mandatory for hostel students

HOSTEL AUTHORITIES at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) have to make 75 per cent attendance in classroom lectures mandatory for retaining accommodation. The authorities are now set to get cracking on students currently occupying hostel rooms but not abiding by its rules.

Last week, authorities had issued a letter to all department heads, seeking a detailed list of students occupying hostel rooms, along with their academic and attendance records.

The letter had asked the department heads to cancel the hostel accommodation of students who were found to have violated the attendance conditions. It had added that no further applications for hostel accommodation should be accepted for the coming year.

 The letter added that, every year, the number of applicants for hostel accommodation exceed the available capacity. Pointing out that hostel authorities were facing repeated RTI applications by students being denied accommodation, the circular read, “Those students who were not able to get hostel accommodation or have to stay on as ‘guests’, have been making repeated inquiries about the attendance record of the students currently staying in hostels but do not have 75 per cent attendance. They have moved several RTI requests.”

TD Nikam the rector of the hostel said “The hostels come at such subsidised rates that students do not want to leave them at any cost. But then students who were not able to get in, complain about the students who are occupying rooms but not serious about academics and their priorities are different. Hence, we asked departments to send us attendance records of students of the year 2016-2017, who are now in their second year of hostel accommodation.”