Steps to rein in truant students

Updated on: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kolkata: It’s usually schools which hold parent-teacher meetings to rein in errant students. Now, Presidency College, too, will resort to it to deal with the low attendance menace.

Henceforth, students staying away from the classroom for long or missing classes on a regular basis will be asked to bring their parents, who will be asked to give an undertaking that their wards would meet the attendance criteria.

“I haven’t even spared students who feel they can get away by simply presenting a fake medical certificate,” said Presidency College principal Sanjiv Ghosh. “However, no student has fallen short of the required attendance percentile so far this year,” he was quick to add.

The college has taken special measures following Calcutta University’s guidelines. “Especially after the introduction of the 1+1+1 regulation, we have been extremely cautious over the matter,” said Ghosh.

The college will soon introduce an online students’ profile, which will be updated on a regular basis. “Students will be able to know how many classes they have attended and take steps accordingly,” Ghosh explained.

Other colleges, too, have taken similar steps, especially in view of students at two colleges recently agitating and trying to pressure the authorities into letting them take the university exams despite low attendance.

Scottish Church College holds parent-teacher meetings, too, during which guardians are given feedback about academic performance or low attendance of their wards, said principal J Abraham. “Some departments also publish students’ attendance records every month,” he added. The college has also included a note in the prospectus, saying 75% attendance is mandatory.

Strict measures have been implemented at Maulana Azad College, too. “Every quarter, there is a guardians’ meeting and it is mandatory for parents to attend it. If a student is seen falling short of the attendance criteria, the guardian has to give an undertaking that the student would mend his ways. In the undertaking, the guardians have to mention that the onus is not on the college if the student does not attend classes. The college is allowed to take necessary steps against the offender by either giving him a TC or not allowing him to appear in the university examinations,” said principal Subhashish Dutta.

At Asutosh College, any attendance shortfall is taken seriously. “Every quarter, we keep updating the performance of the student and attendance shortfall. The guardians are also updated about the low attendance. This year onwards, we will also publish the university guidelines in the college prospectus to avoid any controversy later,” informed principal Dipak Kar.

At Jogamaya Devi College, principal Gargi Nath said: “The students who enter college are above 18 years. They have attained voting age. So we treat them like adults. From time to time, we keep updating them about their attendance shortfall. In the beginning of the year, I had called the parents and told them about their ward’s low attendance, yet things did not improve.” Jogamaya Devi College was one of the colleges where students had agitated for not being allowed to take the Part I exams.

For more information visit : educationtimes.com

Steps to rein in truant students

More Education news