Bhubaneswar, Aug. 17: Students are happy about the single calendar system that the department of higher education (DHE) has introduced for all junior and degree colleges from this academic session.

They believe that the system will do away with the delay in conducting examinations and publishing results.

However, the college authorities are yet to receive the details of the system.

“We have not received any official intimation regarding the implementation of the single calendar system. The calendar must be prepared in such a way that it facilitates the maximum number of working days for students,” said S.N. Mohanty, principal of BJB (Junior) College.

The students believe that the system will help them. “We can start preparing our own routine. Now we know by when our examinations will be completed and results will be announced so that we can apply for competitive examinations,” said Abhishek, a Plus Three commerce student of Maharishi College of Natural Law.

A few colleges are not happy that happy though. They argue that the DHE did not consult the college authorities before preparing the single calendar system. “It is a good step, but they should discussed with us how to go about the system. Some colleges have certain compulsions and without prior dialogue, it is just another imposition,” said the principal of a government college in the capital.

The schedule for examinations, publication of results, holidays, sports, scholastic and extra-curricular activities will be chalked out for colleges in the calendar.

As of now, it has been decided that in junior colleges, examinations will start from February 22. The results will be published within 45 to 60 days from the date of commencement of examinations and the fresh academic session will begin from June 16.

The final year examinations of all colleges offering graduation courses will be conducted on March 2 and the examinations for Plus Three first year and second year students would be held on April 22 and March 22 respectively. However, the calendar does not provide any information about conducting semester examinations and the autonomous colleges have been kept outside the purview of the system.

The students of autonomous colleges also want some kind of calendar system. “Very often, colleges fail to conduct examinations on time which delays the publication of results,” said Arunima Behera, a student.

Joint secretary of the DHE, Anirudha Rout, said the focus now is on junior college admissions and the logistics of the single calendar system would be worked out once the admission season got over.

“We are in the process of finalising the calendar and will soon make the details official. Autonomous colleges will not be a part of the system as they have a separate syllabus. But we will certainly consider the inclusion of semester exams,” Rout said.

The DHE has also made it compulsory for every student to have a minimum of 75 per cent attendance to be eligible to appear for examinations. Software to keep record of attendance in each college will soon be developed.