New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad has announced a ‘no mandatory attendance’ policy, allowing students to appear for examinations irrespective of their attendance starting from the academic year 2025–26.
In a first for any of the 23 IITs, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad has said that its undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG), and doctor of philosophy (PhD) students will not be penalised “in any form based on the minimum attendance criteria,” which was 75% until the previous academic year, 2024–25.
The notification comes more than a week after the IIT Dhanbad senate, in its September 1 meeting, approved a proposal put forward by the office-bearers of the Student Gymkhana (SG) to remove mandatory attendance. The senates of IITs are the institutes’ highest academic bodies, which hold the authority to approve academic policies.
IIT Dhanbad dean (academic) Mritunjay Kumar Singh, said that the decision to remove mandatory attendance is meant to give students “greater liberty” to engage their potential outside the classroom in technical and socio-cultural clubs. “The focus here is on clubs, as they help students build skills beyond the structured curriculum,” he told HT.
Akshaya Jha, a third-year of BTech student of IIT Dhanbad, said that the removal of mandatory attendance hasn’t made “much difference” to her since she attends classes regularly out of habit.
IITs follow varying attendance rules. IIT Guwahati, Kharagpur, Delhi, and Roorkee mandate 75% attendance, while Madras and Palakkad require 85% minimum attendance to be eligible for examinations. IIT Gandhinagar leaves it to instructors, but students missing too many early classes are barred from quizzes and mid-semester examinations.
Since its founding in 1964, private engineering institute Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani has never made attendance a condition for exams. From 2024–25, however, the institute has linked 10% of course marks to classroom participation. “This is about encouraging active engagement, not just marking attendance,” vice-chancellor V. Ramgopal Rao said.
IIT Dhanbad convened its senate meeting for 2025–26 a month after union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s visit on July 31 and August 1.“The proposal to remove mandatory attendance came from the Students’ Gymkhana. Many students were sitting in class just to mark attendance, without real learning. We felt that time could be better used for skill development. Since placements in IITs depend more on skills than classroom presence, we pushed for this change,” chairperson of the Students’ Gymkhana Nakshatra Singh Jhala said.
He added that the matter was also discussed with minister Pradhan during his visit.
Pradhan, in his address at the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 rankings event on September 4, said, “Why stress on attendance in higher education? Students who clear the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) don’t need to be monitored this way—we must trust them and relax attendance norms.”
“Although the minimum attendance rule for examination has been scrapped, as a safeguard to curb misuse, the instructors will still record class attendance, and students have to meet departmental attendance norms to remain eligible for stipends and fellowships,” The IIT Dhanbad dean said.
“The institute will regularly review how students are utilising their time—whether for ideation, innovation, or skill-building—and how this contributes to their overall development. As this reform has only just been implemented, the institute plans to assess its outcomes after one trimester or a couple of semesters. The goal is to evaluate whether the policy is achieving what was intended and helping students in meaningful ways,” he added.
