New Delhi [India], June 12 : Delhi's St Stephen's College has barred 54 first-year students from appearing in their semester exams for not meeting the minimum attendance requirement of 66.7 percent.
The decision, taken on June 4, has triggered outrage among students who claim they were denied a fair hearing and treated with hostility by the college administration. There has been no immediate response from the college administration.
A group of students calling themselves "Concerned Students of St. Stephen's College" said on Thursday that many of those barred had legitimate reasons for their shortfall, including medical emergencies, personal crises, participation in college events, and the recent attack in Pahalgam. Despite this, they were not given the opportunity to explain their circumstances.
"Our parents travelled from different cities and waited outside the Principal's office from 8 am to 4 pm, only to be yelled at and denied even a few minutes of meeting," the statement from the group said.
Students are alleging that the Principal left the college without notice for ten days after releasing the detained list, leaving them with no authority to appeal to.
One student reportedly suffered a panic attack and nearly collapsed after being shouted at and physically intimidated by security personnel. "Even when she was struggling to breathe, the administrative staff refused to arrange for an ambulance or a wheelchair," the students claimed.
They also criticised what they called "arbitrary and inconsistent" attendance policies, stating that rules are often announced only at the end of the semester and exemptions for medical or extracurricular reasons are either delayed or ignored.
The students further alleged that the Principal has centralised authority to the point where the post of Vice Principal has remained vacant for nearly a decade, leaving no mechanism for grievance redressal in his absence, "This is not the first time such detentions have happened. Last year, over 100 students were penalised for missing morning assemblies. There is a pattern."
Calling the administration's behaviour "disrespectful and unaccountable," the students have demanded that all barred students be immediately allowed to sit for exams and that the college restore its earlier system of departmental review for attendance issues.