80% Attendance a must to sit exams: Minister Rajapakshe to undergrads

The Regulation that undergraduates should have an attendance record of 80% will not be changed, despite protests against it, said Minister of Higher Education Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

He said that all undergraduates islandwide will be treated in a similar manner and instructions have gone out to the Unive r s i t y G r a n t s Commission ( UGC) that no changes should be made regarding this Regulation.

The comments came amid protests from undergraduates of the Engineering Faculty of the University of Peradeniya (UoP) that those who have not attended 80% of the lectures were not allowed to sit the exams.

Of the 1,645 undergraduates of the UoP's Engineering Faculty, 45 have less than 80% attendance, while 4 were zero attendance. "For the sake of 49 students they are holding the other students to ransom. We will not change the rules for the sake of a few students," he said.

He said, "If an opportunity is given to these students, it will have to be applied to other Universities as well."

"This type of thing takes place either, if they have been involved in protests or, some of them were engaged in the tuition business. If it was a medical issue, permission could be given by the Dean of the Faculty," he said.

"According to International standards 80% attendance should be maintained for undergraduates to be accepted internationally," he said.

However, Student Union Leader Lahiru Weerasekara said they do not accept the 80% attendance requirement, and will get undergraduates of other universities to protest over the issue.

Meanwhile, the UoP Council has yet to decide how to evict the undergraduates occupying the Senate Colonnade area and cooking in this area, in defiance of Vice Chancellor Upul B.Dissanayake's order to vacate the Campus. Their parents are also helpless, despite the Dean and Dons of the Faculty of Engineering requesting the parents to move their children out of the Campus area, for any solution to be arrived.

The staff working at the Senate building are entering the building through the rear.