5 semesters in 1 month: MAMC solution to low attendance

The Maulana Azad Medical College,which takes pride in its student-friendly approach to education,has come out with a notification to help students who face the risk of being barred from MBBS examinations in November- December owing to low attendance.

The Maulana Azad Medical College,which takes pride in its student-friendly approach to education,has come out with a notification to help students who face the risk of being barred from MBBS examinations in November- December owing to low attendance. The college council has notified marathon improvement classes,squeezing into one month classes that were to be spread over five semesters.

The notification issued by the office of the Dean says: these classes conducted in the month of October- November are meant to allow students to make up the deficit of attendance for the third and eight semester. In MBBS,the first year is covered in two semesters,the second year covers semesters 3,4 and 5,the third years comprises semester 6 and 7 and the fourth year semesters 8 and 9.

As per college rules,only students who have a total minimum attendance of 75 per cent,in theory and practical classes,can be allowed to take the examination. The notification states: on compilation of attendance of Batch 2007 students,it was found that the majority of students have very low attendance (less than 75%),which would lead to them being detained from appearing in their examinations,on grounds of attendance. The notice adds: this is a one time measure,and will not be repeated in future.

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In July,the college withdrew the biometric attendance system for students that had been introduced earlier in the year.

When faculty members of certain departments like Medicine,Gynaecology,Microbiology and Paediatrics expressed their inability to repeat the classes for students who did not attend them in the first place,the college council found another solution. As per the notices: senior resident doctors across departments took marathon eight theory classes per day to help undergraduate students.

SRs (senior residents) should not take leave on the day of the scheduled class. One attendance will be given for one hour class,SRs have to submit the attendance to the medicine office, read a notice issued from the office of the HoD of Medicine. According to a professor from the department,SRs only take practical tutorials in MAMC and most reputed medical colleges. In MAMC,we have not had SRs officially taking theory classes like this before.

While some faculty members consider this to be a gross dilution of medical education,Dr AK Aggarwal,MAMC Dean,said,This is the first time we had to conduct these extra classes. We are a very student-friendly college,and the college council felt that detaining so many students would not have been correct. On the matter of SRs taking theory classes,Dr Aggarwal said that technically SRs are post-graduates who have some teaching experience. Though they are not faculty members,they can technically take classes, he said.

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In the Surgery department,around 46 students are falling short,in Pathology 20-30 are low, a MAMC professor said.

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5 semesters in 1 month: MAMC solution to low attendance

The Maulana Azad Medical College,which takes pride in its student-friendly approach to education,has come out with a notification to help students who face the risk of being barred from MBBS examinations in November- December owing to low attendance.

The Maulana Azad Medical College,which takes pride in its student-friendly approach to education,has come out with a notification to help students who face the risk of being barred from MBBS examinations in November- December owing to low attendance.