Kolkata: Principals and faculty members of affiliated colleges welcomed Calcutta University’s decision to reintroduce marks for attendance in undergraduate classes, aimed at bringing truant students back to classrooms.Syndicate, CU’s highest decision-making body, on Tuesday gave the approval to award 25 marks for internal assessment to UG students, among which 5 marks would be allocated for attendance. “Syndicate members unanimously agreed that students must return to classrooms and all members supported reintroducing attendance marks. The score will motivate students to attend classes regularly,” CU vice-chancellor Asutosh Ghosh said.Several principals pointed out that before the curriculum and credit framework (CCF) was implemented, 10 marks used to be set aside for attendance but the abolition of the marks severely affected the classroom teaching-learning environment as attendance dropped.“It’s unfortunate that students will attend lectures only because marks will be set aside for it but we must accept the reality. . If this move can bring them back to classrooms, it is definitely a welcome decision,” said Indrila Guha, principal of Basanti Devi College. Echoing her, Bankim Sardar College principal Tilak Chatterjee said, “As soon as attendance becomes rewarding, class attendance will improve.” He pointed out that back in 2017, they introduced a special attendance scholarship, which yielded positive results. But attendance dropped as soon as it was discontinued, he added.Manas Kabi, principal of Asutosh College, said they followed the university’s guidelines and made 75% attendance mandatory to allow students to appear for exams. “We constantly remind our students about the rule. Even after marks were abolished in 2023, we maintained the 75% attendance cap. We welcome the reintroduction of marks as a reward can motivate even the most reluctant students to return to the classroom,” he said.Under the earlier choice-based credit system (CBCS), 10 marks were set aside for attendance and 15 for internal assessment. But with the introduction of CCF in 2023, both were replaced with marks for tutorial projects or practicals, for which students rarely attended classes.
