Starting June, biometric attendance made mandatory in all Mumbai junior colleges.

Biometric details to keep a tap on students attendance in Mumbai junior colleges. (Representational)

Cracking the whip on integrated coaching programmes, the state school education department issued a Government Resolution (GR) on Friday making it mandatory for all junior colleges to have biometric attendance systems, starting this month.

The GR, dated June 15, stated that most students enrolled in the Science stream do not attend classes in junior college, instead, they attend coaching classes.

“Students who score 96 per cent in SSC take admissions in such integrated programmes. The junior colleges, having tie-ups with coaching classes, charge lakhs of rupees as fees. The colleges mark 80 per cent attendance for students and allow them admissions to Class XII. But henceforth, commercialisation of education will be stopped,” said school education and sports minister Vinod Tawde. “This measure is particularly aimed at the integrated junior colleges. There is no regulation. With this, we will be able to monitor attendance of the students. Most junior colleges have it already”.

Some of the junior colleges and coaching centres have started offering “tie-up programmes” wherein students do not have to attend classes in the colleges or the coaching centre’s faculty members provide coaching classes on the college campus.

“The main advantage is that a student’s time is saved as he or she does not have to travel between classes and schools and colleges. The student will be taught physics, mathematics and chemistry in the college or on the school premises by the coaching class faculty, three to four days a week,” said Manisha Wagh, the parent of a Class X student.

Tawde said: “Due to this arrangement, it is found that students have been missing the regular classes and attending the integrated courses.” The minister said that now it would be mandatory for students to attend classes in the junior colleges.

Parents of students, however, are unhappy with the move. “State board students need to study the CBSE syllabus for competitive exams and the junior colleges are not good enough to prepare them. If there is no choice, it would be tiring for the students and almost impossible to prepare for NEET and JEE in two years, along with regular college,” said Vishesh Mhatre, the father of a medical seat aspirant.