Good attendance is very important for teachers because having good attendance means that pupils are encourage to go to school because of their teaching strategies. But, is it really teaching strategies that affects pupils’ attendance? Does it mean ineffective teaching strategies when teachers are experiencing problems of absenteeism?
Absenteeism is not a cause of ineffective teaching. It comes from many reasons. In most schools, teachers of lower sections are most likely to have problems of absenteeism than those teachers of higher section because most of them are not conscious about their grades. Sometimes it occurs in higher sections because of the attitude of knowing the attendance has lower percentage than other factors in the grading system. Sometimes absenteeism also occurs because of sickness, tardiness, lack of allowance and comfortable going to school. But why is it a problem? Teachers will say, “It is not our lost when you’re absent, it’s yours”. Which is really true. Being absent means loss of learning in the part of the pupils.
Attendance also predicts whether a pupil will pass or fail. In other words, even a pupil performs very well in class, if he or she has problem of absenteeism, there are possibilities that he or she will be given failing grades especially if he/she incurs absences of more than 20% the prescribed number of class per subject. It will affect the pupils’ academic performance in the sense that they will not be able to cope up with the lesson. Besides, pupils should be able to complete the number of school days required in the school calendar.
Pupils fail in many ways. First, pupils who skip their classes missed the lessons and skills for the day. Some pupils think that they can still pass even they were absent by borrowing notes from their classmates. This can be explained by the saying, “ No pain, no gain “, When pupil is absent, he or she loss learning both the concept and the skills. The probability to pass the exam is 50 – 50. Second, pupils who skip their class also missed the assignment for the following day. Example, if Ara was absent when the teacher told the class to bring art materials, then Ara will get zero for the assignment the next day because she does not know what the teacher told them to bring. Third, pupils who often skip their class missed important activities, whether group or individual. In case of Ara, even if she is present the next day, she will also get zero because she does not have materials to use for the activity. Finally, pupils who often skip their class missed their chances of getting to know their classmates and establish a good friendship. Peers also affects the performance of the pupils if a child always want to be with his or her friends in school, he or she will be motivated to go to school. But if he or she is always with out of school friends there is a chance that he will skip the class more often for him or her to have the chance to be with them.
Absenteeism has serious consequences. Pupils should think twice before skipping the class because being absent may cause them to fail. Parents should encourage their children to come to school regularly for better learning outcomes.
By: Mrs. GLENDA D. CABUAL | Teacher III | Casupanan Elementary School | Palihan, Hermosa, Bataan
