BENGALURU: A fake circular doing the rounds on social media platforms about the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) scrapping the mandatory 75 per cent attendance has created confusion among all the stakeholders.
Even the officials of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, were shocked when they saw the circular on WhatsApp. Prof Jagannath Reddy, Registrar (VTU), told The New Indian Express,
“Even I received it on my WhatsApp and have been getting calls from many, including principals of affiliated colleges. We need to verify this with the authorities.”
The AICTE authorities issued a clarification, saying, “It was a fake circular and there is no such decision or proposal of scrapping 75 per cent attendance and introducing vocational projects.”
The circular had everything starting from the AICTE logo to the signatures of officials. And the VTU authorities and principals of engineering colleges suspect it to be the handiwork of some mischievous students.
Interestingly, the fake circular reads: “Considering the growing unemployment of engineering graduates, which has become a serious issue, and according to data from national sample survey office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and AICTE carried out in 2017, about 57.43% of engineering students from various technical institutions are unemployed. Considering this, AICTE has decided to scrap the 75 per cent mandatory attendance and introduce vocational projects.”
Mandatory attendance of 75 per cent has been introduced in education at all levels following a Supreme Court judgment.