IIT Roorkee has expelled 73 students for underperformance in first year B.Tech programme. “Seventy three students who scored lower than five cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the second semester were expelled from the institute as per a decision of the Senate consisting of over 100 professors,” IIT Roorkee Director Pradipta Bannerjee said.
The Senate took the decision on Wednesday after considering all aspects of the issue, he said. Rule mandating expulsion of students who scored less than five CGPA for two consecutive semesters was framed last year by the premier institute to ensure quality education on the campus.
When 73 students were found scoring less than five CGPA in their second semester exam, they were issued expulsion notices by the institute. In response to the notices, the students and their parents approached the IIT authorities seeking reconsideration of the decision. However, the Senate, after a marathon discussion on the issue which went late into the night on Wednesday, decided to expel them, Bannerjee said.
During admission, the parents had signed declaration that the poor performance could lead to expulsion of the students, IIT Roorkee officials said, adding that institute had warned the students in May to pull up their socks.
HRD Ministry officials maintained silence over the episode, saying the IITs are autonomous bodies which are governed by their own rules. Ministry officials said such expulsion (though large in this particular case) was not an aberration as it had happened earlier also in IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur.
A professor of an IIT also raised questions over the revamped IIT-JEE entrance test which makes it “relatively easier” for a student to crack the objective type questions if “luck favours him”.
Officials recalled receiving pleas from students directly for leniency whose CGPA was less than five.
