Vijay Kiran Anand, the director general of the basic education department, said, “100 per cent attendance of girls should be ensured through Aadhaar verification by enrolling up to the prescribed limit based on the list of ‘never enrolled’ and ‘out of school’ girls identified in the household surveys provided by the block education officers at the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya.”
However, Kiran pointed out that teachers, both part-time and full-time, will be included in this rule for attendance requirements as well.
“Part-time teachers often take the liberty of not coming in regularly while full-time teachers decide amongst themselves and take holidays on a rotation. We have been enforcing this 100 per cent attendance rule for two years now,” said Kiran.
He further said, “The attendance usually dips around holidays. Guardians make plans during school holidays, and then either take the child out of school before the holidays begin or stay away for longer than the holidays last.” He added, “This impacts the study patterns and education of girls.”
The official added, “We can only take steps to try and ensure that the rules are being followed. We cannot force children or their parents to comply… Threatening to suspend these students or take action against them will only be counterproductive to their education. Therefore, we issue directives to follow the 100 per cent attendance rule every year, and then monitor the outcome throughout the year.”
So far, to improve student attendance, the parents and children have been counselled by the teaching staff at KGBV residential schools at the parent-teacher meetings, but no penal action is taken against the students in that regard.
Basic education department officer for Lucknow, Vishwajeet Pandey, said that the schools where the wardens are vigilant and maintain good discipline have much better attendance rates and students tend not to play truant as much.
The school wardens are held responsible for student attendance. Should a child who is present on the premises and registered on the Prerna portal (an online registry of children in government schools) not be present in class, strict action will be taken against the warden, said the official.
–IANS
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