Attendance! The word that almost every college student will relate to within no time! No wonder it deserves a place in my blog. Read on!
At the first place, why do you need such a policy? Are the institutes cynical about their potential to draw students to the classroom. Don’t they have faith in their teaching abilities, infrastructure or is it something more absurd?
Why is a student forced to prove his presence on a piece of paper after every 60 odd minutes. It makes a student feel like a prisoner in a place where he always desired to be in. It is inevitable for him to think, 1hr equivalent to just 1 attendance! Pathetic!
Well, coming on a more serious note, how does it help? I wonder if it is a pleasant sight for a faculty to notice students snoring. Does a faculty find gratification in teaching the students who are just present for the sake of attendance. Is it rewarding for a teacher to count up students at the conclusion of each discourse to check out for proxies? Do they relish punishing students for these deeds? Well, too many questions for a faculty!
But, at the same time, from the perspective of a student too, it is not fruitful either. Those students who are not sleeping are busy having a chat on which movie is worth a watch or debating over the last league match. How Tendulkar, yet again, missed his century or on how are the students preparing for their respective fests! Worse still is the case with the students who just cannot make any sense out of what is going on and are just idling their time out for that one fraction of a second when they will sign against their name and attain Nirvana. Is this not crap? I guess this is an insult of Education and of Classroom too. The purpose is not to make a student available physically, but mentally too.
Why cannot they give students the liberty of deciding upon what is the best option for them? Do they still consider the students to be an immature lot. Stop treating a student like a school child. Come on guys! Students need a break from these administrative policies.
Now consider from the point of view of the administrators. Suppose they do not implement such restrictions. Not all the students will come to classrooms. But really interested ones will come for sure. It is better for a faculty to teach 10 interested students rather than lecturing 50 uninterested ones. Also, it is not frustrating for the students either because they will not have to nod their heads on the things which does not make any sense to them. This is what I feel!
Any policy, or better put any tactic which falls short in achieving this target is inoperable. It must not be employed. However complex it may be to find a way out, it must be bequeathed a grave attention for the betterment of education!
