The elephant in the room

Teacher absence in classes was the loudest complaint made by students in their recent feedback to their VC in a Delhi university. Do teachers bunk classes? This is what one would expect students to do.

Why do some teachers hate to teach? Is it because they cannot hold their students’ attention? Perhaps, their reading is inadequate, and they hate their subject. Pitted against Internet-savvy students armed with mobiles, they may be out of touch with reality.

The students’ concerns are legitimate. If they are not addressed soon, they will find other means to learn. The Internet and the idiot box are some powerful options: they offer more current and valuable content in six months than a graduate degree can in three years.

This threat may also apply to any business school course. Therefore, there is danger ahead for the teacher and his profession. 
Distance learning and e-learning are two more options to replace him. As travel becomes expensive, why go to a building (school) with teachers – who may be absent, or not be current - when you can read a business newspaper, watch TV or browse the Internet in the comfort of your home?

If teachers are to be respected, educational institutions must be made responsible for the development of their skills. Presently, their focus is on improving infrastructure. But how can another version of software, better flooring, and landscaping make teachers more attractive to students? Most often, their training is heavy in information - which can be acquired anywhere - and not on teaching methods and behaviour.

Such training may not be enough, and must be augmented by learning goals. Institution heads must direct teachers to learn anew, change behaviour, and make regular self-appraisals. They must push teachers to question and to change what they do. They must coax teachers to discover ways to connect with and move closer to students and their concerns.

Only then would teaching become an exciting profession of discovery and learning. Only then would the elephant leave us free to attend to bigger problems.

Absenteeism, the dinosaur

Face-to-face interaction between students and their teacher is at the heart of conventional education. A full class of students is the right platform for vigorous attention to discuss and understand a topic.

However, when not in class, students lose many opportunities to hear and receive meaning. Rarely would they admit that such loss pulls down their marks – till they become parents, a generation later.

The students’ usual plea is that their classes are not ‘interesting’. But the teacher’s role is to explain and create awareness - not to entertain. By missing classes, a student fails to gain knowledge, becomes less able, and therefore, less valuable to a prospective employer.

One University in New Delhi had debarred many students from their examinations for not having minimum attendance in their classes. It had also shut down a graduate course for the same reason. Recently, its Vice-Chancellor berated their teachers for not guiding students to change their lives. These were bold actions and statements, but would they drive away the larger problem of absenteeism?

Private institutions may waive poor attendance citing the student’s ill-health or participation in off-campus extra-curricular activities. Is this a compromise, a surrender, or merely, pragmatism?

What is the value of a degree when the student has been needlessly absent? No employer would want to hire even a top-grade student if they suspected him to be irregular at work.

Superior academic performance is so critical to career entry. Therefore, let us begin by waiving minimum attendance and the term-end memory-based examinations. It would be more prudent to assess students' learning from off-campus assignments linked to their class presence, and from their in-class exercises, discussions and debates. 
Meanwhile, content and teaching process in class would keep pace with the students' understanding. This would compel teachers to learn along with their students!

And soon, we would have eliminated this animal called absenteeism from our schools and colleges.