Fake News Alert: AICTE has not issued any Circular scrapping the 75% Attendance rule for Engineering

• Rakesh Dubbudu

A circular in the name of AICTE has been widely shared on social media in the last few days. The circular talks about scrapping the 75% attendance rule for the engineering course. AICTE has clarified that it’s a fake circular.  

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In the last few days, a circular in the name of an advisor to AICTE has been shared widely across social media. The crux of the circular is that the AICTE has scrapped the 75% attendance rule in all B.E/B.Tech courses and is introducing vocational projects instead of mandatory attendance. The circular is addressed to all the directors & principals of AICTE approved institutions. The circular mentions the following.

• Latest statistics from a recent survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) & AICTE in late 2017 indicate that 57.43% of the engineering graduates are unemployed
• 93% of the engineering graduates are unable to code in any of the programming languages
• Rote learning & cramming remains popular with students for clearing examinations
• Considering the statistics, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has decided to scrap the 75% attendance rule from 18th January 2018. Instead, students have to submit a vocational project related to their hobby or subject each semester. The degree would be awarded only to those who submit these projects and complete 3 mandatory internships.

The alleged circular then goes onto ask institutes to make relevant provisions and that detailed documents would be made available later both on the MHRD website as well as the AICTE website.

AICTE says the Circular is ‘FAKE’
The AICTE distanced itself from the circular and called it fake . In a communication uploaded  on the AICTE website, AICTE said that the circular is misleading & mischievous. The communication asked that the circular  be ignored. It also said that a police complaint is being lodged with the cybercrime cell of the Delhi Police.

The circular is FAKE for multiple reasons
A careful reading of the circular would reveal that it is fake for multiple reasons.

There is no advisor by that name: The circular was signed by one Prof. G K Gokhale, an advisor in the Policy & Academic Planning Bureau of AICTE. The AICTE website does not list  anyone by that name as an advisor in the bureau.

The 75% attendance rule is not uniform across: Universities that award B.E/B.Tech degrees and affiliate colleges in various states have different attendance rules.  Below are the details of attendance rules in some of the universities.

• JNTU Hyderabad (Telangana) –   75%
• Anna University (Tamil Nadu) – 75%
• B R Ambedkar Technological University (Maharashtra) – 75%
• Visvesvaraya Technological University (Karnataka) – 85%
• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (UP) – 100% with 25% relaxation
• Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (Madhya Pradesh) – 75%

Attendance rules won’t change in the middle of an academic year: Even if AICTE were to modify the attendance rules, they won’t do it in the middle of an academic year. They would do it with effect from a fresh academic year.

There is no such NSSO report in the public domain: There is no such employability report  in the public domain  where the survey was undertaken by the NSSO & AICTE.

All those concerned should ignore the circular.