The National University (NU) decided to promote students who failed in their first-year honours examinations in 2011 to second year.
Md Faizul Karim, a public relations officer of the university, disclosed the information to journalists on Monday.
He said students who had obtained ‘F’ grades (below 40% of marks) in no more than five subjects will be eligible to pass.
In support of the university’s move for this unprecedented arrangement, he said they decided to do so considering the “future of the students” and the “guardians’ circumstances.”
As per exam regulations, when a student fails in a subject, he or she has to retake that exam to prove his eligibility for promotion.
On Wednesday, NU published the result of the honours first year examination of 2011 which was attended by over 200,000 students. A staggering 46% of them did not pass.
The result triggered an instant outcry from many students who failed to pass and subsequently took to the streets to protest.
They attributed their failure to the new grading system in examinations introduced last year. In the new system, the lowest pass mark was changed from 33 to 40.
However, Munaz Ahmed Noor, the pro-vice-chancellor of NU, had blamed the teachers for “failure” to adapt to the new system, claiming the university had nothing to do with the large number of failures.
At the press briefing, Faizul Karim expected that from this point students would be better prepared during their next examinations and would score better.
Students will also be expected to attend classes regularly and be attentive in their studies, he added.