NEW DELHI, INDIA — The National Dental Commission (NDC) has issued a strict nationwide directive mandating that all postgraduate (PG) dental students maintain a minimum of 80% biometric attendance to be eligible for university examinations. In a fresh statutory communication sent to the registrars of universities and the deans of all dental colleges, the apex regulatory body made it clear that any student falling short of this threshold will be strictly barred from appearing in final Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) exams.
Enforcing Existing Statutory Regulations
The NDC’s communication, officially issued on June 30, 2026, serves as a firm reinforcement of existing academic standards. The commission reminded institutions that this attendance benchmark is legally bound by Regulation 18(a)(i) of the Dental Council of India (DCI) MDS Course Regulations, 2017.
While digital attendance has been part of medical educational frameworks, this latest update completely cuts out manual or physical registers. By relying strictly on centralized, auditable biometric systems, the government intends to ensure that PG dental candidates are physically present for their mandatory clinical hours, surgeries, and theoretical training.
Triggered by Complaints Across Three States
According to the Times of India, this regulatory push follows an investigation conducted by the DCI’s Grievance Sub-Committee. The committee evaluated multiple formal complaints highlighting rampant student absenteeism and deficient training hours within dental colleges across Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
The sub-committee’s findings exposed instances where postgraduate students were failing to meet the basic attendance norms but were still being cleared for exams. Following an initial advisory circular on January 19, 2026, the NDC has now upgraded the instruction into an unyielding statutory command with explicit penalty warnings.
Institutions to Face the Heat for Non-Compliance
The National Dental Commission notice explicitly shifts the burden of compliance onto institutional leadership. The NDC warned that “the institution shall be held responsible for such non-compliance with the statutory directions” if they permit ineligible candidates to sit for the university exams. This sweeping accountability loop ensures that individual dental colleges can no longer treat attendance mandates as a relaxed or optional administrative formality.
