‘GIVE STUDENTS ANOTHER CHANCE’

HRD ministry has asked IIT-Roorkee to reconsider its decision of expelling 10 of its students for below par academic performance. Most of these students belonged to the socially backward sections of the society.

NEW DELHI: The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has asked the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee (IIT-R) to reconsider the decision to expel 10 students — belonging to socially backward sections of the society — for poor academic performance, sources said.

The BJP-led government’s move comes months after it burnt its fingers over its handling of the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

IIT-R had expelled the BTech students who had scored a cumulative grade-point average (CGPA) of less than 5 in their first-year exams. Sources said all of these students belong to either SC, ST or OBC categories.

In 2015, the institute had expelled 72 students for poor academic performance. But the students were later readmitted on strict conditions.

“The ministry has asked the institute to reconsider its decision. The matter will be presented before the senate that will take a final call,” said a senior HRD official.

Sources said the senate is likely to take a decision on August 20. The ministry official said only IIT Roorkee could take a decision on their re-admisssion but said the ministry has requested them to consider it. As per IIT rules, if a student fails to get a minimum CGPA of 5, they have to be expelled as there is no provision of repeating the semester.

Ministry sources said the 72 students who were expelled and were given another chance managed to perform quite well in their re-examination.

On June 7 this year, an official memorandum had announced the expulsion of 11 first year BTech students.

However, one student was later given a chance to take a reexam after taking into account his physical disability. The names of the rest of the students were removed from the rolls and they were denied a chance to register themselves again.