College Street: The semester system that Calcutta University will introduce in the BA and BSc courses in the 2018-19 academic year will not detain students if they flunk a paper and give them up to five years to finish the three-year courses.

If a student fails in a paper in a semester, he or she will have the option of clearing it in any of the following semesters.

"The pass-fail system will be abolished following the introduction of the semester system in the BA and BSc courses," an official at the university said.

The CU syndicate, the highest decision-making body of the university, approved on Monday the proposal to introduce the choice-based credit system (CBCS) and semester exams in all undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the 2018-19 academic year.

The two systems had been introduced in BCom last year.

Under the annual exam system that was followed till the 2017-18 academic year, a student was required to clear a certain number of honours and elective papers in order to be promoted to the next class.

The university had seen a sharp dip in the pass percentage in last year's BA and BSc Part-I honours and general exams, the results of which were declared on January 25, compared with the exams in the previous year.

A section of CU officials blamed the dip in the pass percentage on a rule that was introduced in 2016 and implemented in 2017.

According to the rule, a pass student was required to clear at least two of the three papers to get promoted to the higher class. An honours student was required to clear at least one of the two elective papers, apart from the honours paper, to be promoted to the higher class.

In BSc honours and general, the success rate had dropped from around 85 per cent to 71 per cent. In BA honours and general, the pass percentage dipped from 65 to 43.

The dip triggered massive protests by students, which prompted the university to resurrect a 2009 rule that allowed students to be declared successful in Part I if he or she had only passed in the honours paper.

The introduction of the CBCS and the semester format will enable an honours student to get promoted to the higher class irrespective of whether he or she has cleared the elective papers.

Similarly, a general degree course student will not have to clear a certain number of papers to be promoted.

"Now, if a student fails in a paper in semester I, he or she has the option of clearing it in say semester III (second year) or semester V (third year)," pro vice-chancellor (academic) Dipak Kar said.

The students will be marked on their attendance and performance in the exams conducted by the respective colleges. The plan is to allot up to 10 marks in each subject to attendance and 10 in each paper to the performance in the internal exams.

Students enrolled in the BSc programme will have 30 marks alloted to the practical exam in each paper every semester.

In humanities, 15 marks will be alloted to tutorial in each semester.

"In science, each theory paper will be of 50 marks. In humanities, each theory paper will be of 65 marks," said Kar.