One of the hottest topics in the Philippine education is how absenteeism affects student’s performance and if there’s really a link between student’s scholastic achievements and the number of times s/he attends school. This has been a debate for a long time and has been a subject of numerous studies with different approaches. Teachers, on a national scale, also are heavily involved on the said issue as they are, sometimes, tagged as the reasons why such happens in a classroom set up.
However, in an article written by Sarah Sparks in late 2012, she already stated that there is really evidence that nonattendance in classes leans the students to the curve where poor academic achievement lies – worst case is students tend to drop their education.The following year, the Philippine Statistics Authority identified that school attendance for female is higher among males with ages ranging from 12 – 15 (73.8%).
When a student misses a class, s/he also misses the chance to showcase what s/he knows or totally missed a chance to learn new things. S/he also skipped an opportunity to interact with his or her schoolmates on possible performance output – especially if a school implements output based education.
While it is true that the access to education in the country is free, there is none solution available to date on how to have national approach in attending this concern. The numbers which are earlier stated might have differed after four years and the problem could have branched out to other serious threats to academic stability of a student.
In a study conducted titled, “Effect of Absenteeism among Fourth Year High School Students to School and Individual Learning Performances: Basis for a Conference Dialogue”, it clearly stated some of the factors which are evident and does not require a deep explanation why absenteeism occurs. The researcher, EderleenGentoroy stated that: pressure, finance concerns, disability, psychotic imbalance, poor school climate, family health, transportation problems, drug and alcohol use and different community attitude are the drivers to the said concern. Gentoroy also elaborated that students’ orientations and attitude towards learning should always be considered.
The factors being mentioned, it is not fair to say that teachers are the sole to make solutions for this as discipline strategies are not wholly developed in school premises but should be cultivated in their respective homes. There should be a triumvirate among parents and/or guardians, teachers and the student in alleviating the said problem as it creates a resonation of one’s future – mostly unhealthy and negative.
Among the stated stakeholders, there should also be a concrete plan on how should this be alleviated coming from the national sector which can be tied up with some local organizations to fulfill all the needs of the students. As an example, if one succumbs to pressure, a local agency or organization from the local government unit can put up a seminar on how to fight against it. There are a lot of ways that the said parties can explore and can make the work easier.
The problem will not really be a problem if we know how to address this. We can call for shared responsibility as teachers alone cannot mitigate this as they specialize on nurturing mind and honing behavior comes secondary. The point is, there are other approaches on how to lessen this with collaboration from other sectors.
This might be difficult at the onset as nobody really takes into this matter until it becomes alarming to the academic organization. On the other hand, whatever it is difficult to plant first is the sweetest once harvest time comes. After all, the method should have always been collective from the beginning.
A parent and teacher conference must be a good jumpstart.
By: Ms. Lira P. Bantay | Teacher I | Bataaan National High School | Balanga, Bataan
