IIT Dhanbad Drops Compulsory Attendance from 2025

• IIT (ISM) Dhanbad removes the 75% attendance rule from 2025–26.
• Policy applies to UG, PG, and PhD students across all programs.
• The move aims to boost skill-building via clubs and organizations.

The Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, has declared a ‘no compulsory attendance’ policy, permitting students to take exams regardless of their attendance starting from the 2025–26 academic year.

In a groundbreaking move among the 23 IITs, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad announced that its undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG), and doctor of philosophy (PhD) students will not face any penalties “in any form regarding the minimum attendance requirements,” which was 75% in the prior academic year, 2024–25.

The alert arrives over a week following the IIT Dhanbad senate's meeting on September 1, where a proposal from the Student Gymkhana (SG) office-bearers to eliminate compulsory attendance was approved.

The dean of IIT Dhanbad, Mritunjay Kumar Singh, stated that the choice to eliminate compulsory attendance aims to provide students with “more liability” to explore their abilities beyond the classroom in technical and socio-cultural organizations “The focus here is on clubs, as they help students build skills beyond the structured curriculum,” he told HT.

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IITs have different attendance regulations. IIT Guwahati, Kharagpur, Delhi, and Roorkee require a minimum of 75% attendance, whereas Madras and Palakkad stipulate 85% attendance for examination eligibility. IIT Gandhinagar allows instructors to decide, but students who skip too many early classes are prohibited from participating in quizzes and mid-semester exams. IIT Dhanbad held its senate meeting for 2025–26 a month following union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's visit on July 31 and August 1.

Chairperson of the Students’ Gymkhana Nakshatra Singh Jhala said, “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.”