Attendance rule in IITs and PEN DOWN movement in IIT-BHU. This article is written by one 4th year student of IIT-BHU Alok Kumar Singh. Should there be any attendance rule? In short: NO. Not 85%, not 70% or not even any other figure is justified. REASON: As the quote says - Children who are forced to eat acquire a loathing for food and children who are forced to learn acquire a loathing for knowledge -Bertrand Russell Compulsory attendance seems to be the ‘must have’ for colleges like IIT (BHU). It seems that nowadays colleges are concentrating more on keeping the students inside the classroom rather than on imparting quality education. The reason given for this is that if the student is inside the classroom he/she will be forced to listen to the lecturer and hence will definitely learn something. Sounds great, doesnt it! The attendance rules are very strictly implemented. Students are sometimes not allowed to give exams because of lack of attendance. If not that then internal marks are affected. Parents support this wholeheartedly because there is a preconceived notion that quality of a child’s education is directly proportional to the number of classes he/she attends. Also, they believe that once theyve paid for the classes the students should attend as many as he can so as to get maximum benefit. The problem arises when you see the actual consequence of this rule. Students do attend more classes but only because of fear. The actual passion for studying in class is lost. Anything which is forced upon someone will lose its charm. Students don’t come to college because they want to; they come to college because they have to. They are only physically present. They are mentally somewhere else. What is the use of un-interested students in a classroom? This is not education. The main reason for that is the scarcity of quality teachers in colleges these days. If a faculty is not good, no one will pay attention even if all the students are forced to attend all the lectures. On the other hand, if a faculty is good then all the students will voluntarily come to the class even if it’s an extra lecture or an optional paper. Contrary to popular opinion, students like to study. They want to learn new things. Students are curious. When a student is forced to attend a lecture which is given by an incompetent or even a boring lecturer, then the curiosity in him dies. The college does not have to force a student to do something he/she likes. It just has to facilitate it. A decent classroom, a competent faculty and the faculty’s ability to teach are the only things required to get students to the classroom. Colleges in the Western part of the world do not have compulsory attendance, yet because of the quality of the classes, students attend them voluntarily. The classes are interactive. Students are given freedom to choose their subjects and sometimes even given options in the method of evaluation. Compulsory attendance rules kill the student within the child. It breeds incompetence as faculties are not worried about the number of students attending their class. They can teach in whatever manner they want to and get away with it. The mark of a good teacher is to attract students to the class and keeping them engaged for the entire duration of the lecture. Students pay a lot for tuition fees. They don’t need draconian rules. They just need a congenial environment to study. Im frustrated by this system too! The so-called teachers are literally reading out aloud from a book in engineering lectures, and we are supposed to be attending such a class FORCIBLY. This is worse than a prison. Earlier in our IIT (BHU) manual there was one line written in bold, “75% of attendance in a subject for appearing in the examination is compulsory.” Attendance is a major factor in deciding whether students can even sit final examinations at the end of the year. Is this compulsory attendance rule necessary? In my opinion it isnt, and it puts an unnecessary burden on students. Some students are willing to attend classes. There is always a group of diligent and hard working students who make the effort to learn as much as possible during classes. However, these motivated students are rare. If a student doesnt want to pay attention and learn during a lecture it is practically impossible to force them to do so. Many students depend on friends covering for them by signing them into an attendance register—so called “proxy attendance.” Even those students who succumb to the pressure of compulsory attendance, physical presence does not guarantee mental alertness. So even though they attend, the goal of the lecture, which is to educate pupils, is not being achieved. It is human nature to rebel against things that are imposed on you. With unwilling students, the compulsory attendance rule does more harm than good. They simply prove their independence by disturbing their fellow classmates and by attempting to distract the professor while in the lecture. Classroom teaching forms an integral part of learning. Not only does it ensure a healthy relationship between teacher and student, but it also helps lay the basic foundation knowledge required for every topic. The teachers also provide invaluable tips and suggestions, based on their experiences, which cannot be learnt from any textbook. When so many students are unwilling to attend lectures it is the fault of the school, not the students. Lecturers ought to make their teaching more interesting, with engaging presentations, interactive sessions, and audio visual demonstrations. Many lecturers need training in how to teach better. Picture credits-Alok Kumar(First year student)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 10:53:03 +0000
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