Enforcement of Biometric attendance system has though undoubtedly facilitated punctuality of teachers at Government Schools but grievances are galore that fake attendance of the students of class 11 and class 12 is allowed by the heads of Government schools at the insistence of their parents just give them the opportunity to attend coaching classes during the day time not only in cities and towns but in villages as wells. Such a huge misconduct by the students in connivance with teachers with the clout of some pressure groups including public representatives of municipal bodies and panchayats has gone unnoticed as authorities of School Education Department both in Kashmir Valley and Jammu division have not taken serious note of this bad trend developing in Government schools for years together. A cursory look at the enrolments in Class 11 and Class 12 will reveal the fact that enrolments in the said classes is very high in Government schools but on the contrary enrolments in primary and middles classes has not shown any unprecedented rise even after the launch of much hyped enrolment drive in Government schools across Jammu & Kashmir. With this bad trend of fake attendance of the students of Class 11 and Class 12 developing fast in Government schools across Jammu & Kashmir, the coaching centres are flourishing due to huge compromise on attendance of the students of Class 11 and Class 12 at Government schools. Had the authorities of the School Education Department in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division looked into the causes of the increasing drop put rates in class 11 and class 12 at private schools over the period of years and rise in enrolments in the said classes at Government Schools, they would have found faults in the attendance system of Class 11 and Class 12 at Government schools in both Kashmir Valley and Jammu division.
“Enrolment of students at Government Schools is not as bigger a concern as is their physical presence in classes which can be best checked by the Zonal Resource Persons (ZRPs) and District Resource Persons (ZRPs) tasked the job of inspecting the schools by the School Education Department. Inspections if carried out to check both the attendance and as well as physical presence of students of Class 11 and Class 12 at Government Schools would by all standards of understandabilities induce sense of accountability and punctuality among both the students and as well as the teachers at Government Schools . More over such a change in the policy of inspections would also restraining the coaching centres from introducing bad practices of teaching-learning process among the students who aspire for careers in medical and engineering streams”.
What matters the most is the fact that authorities of Schools Education Department inspect schools to check the attendance of teachers but unfortunately they don’t check the attendance of students and their physical presence in the classes. So fault also is with the practices and procedures of inspections at Government Schools. Enrolment of students at Government Schools is not as bigger a concern as is their physical presence in classes which can be best checked by the Zonal Resource Persons (ZRPs) and District Resource Persons (ZRPs) tasked the job of inspecting the schools by the School Education Department. Inspections if carried out to check both the attendance and as well as physical presence of students of Class 11 and Class 12 at Government Schools would by all standards of understandabilities induce sense of accountability and punctuality among both the students and as well as the teachers at Government Schools . More over such a change in the policy of inspections would also restraining the coaching centres from introducing bad practices of teaching-learning process among the students who aspire for careers in medical and engineering streams.
