Conquering student absenteeism through leave trading system

Absenteeism of students in schools & colleges is a major concern, as it adversely affects the academic performance of students. A large number of students become ineligible to write the Semester End Examinations on account of shortage of attendance every year. The problem of student absenteeism persists in every educational institution unabated to a great extent.

Leave Trading System (LTS) is a novel method to reduce unnecessary absenteeism of students automatically in a most effective & cordial way through self-regulation & self-discipline. Under this system, complete freedom is given to students to take leave whenever required. Introduction of LTS in an institution will result in achieving an average 95% attendance. Students are however required to maintain minimum attendance (75% or 85%) as prescribed by the University to become eligible to write the Semester End Examinations. LTS has been developed at Justice KS Hegde Institute of Management (JKSHIM), Nitte Deemed to be University after several years of research.

How does it work? Under LTS, students are allotted a certain number of Leave Trading Coupons (LTCs) free of cost, at the beginning of the semester. The number of coupons to be allotted to each student is decided by the Institution based on the percentage of attendance required by the institution. If the students absent themselves, they are required to return @ one coupon per hour of absence, to the respective faculty member the very next day. The total number of coupons issued to the students will be generally sufficient to take leave @ one day per month (1/25=4%). The total number of hours of absence of all students cannot be greater than the number of coupons issued to them during the semester. Due to this reason, desired level of attendance (~95%) can be achieved by the institution.

Trading of LTCs After the initial allotment of coupons, students can start using it during the semester for their absence. They are completely free to use less, more or equal number of coupons allotted to them during the semester. There is no financial consequence if a student uses all the allotted coupons. If a student needs more coupons than what was allotted, he / she must purchase the same from the market maker at the market price. As this action requires cash outlay for purchasing coupons, it discourages the student to cut the classes. On the other hand, if the student uses fewer coupons than the coupons allotted during the semester, he/she can sell the LTCs to the market maker and gain money. This financial incentive motivates the students to attend classes. Therefore, all the students are motivated to attend classes and they will not absent, unless it is absolutely necessary which in turn enables the institute to achieve above 95% attendance level.

Market regulates absenteeism Whenever absenteeism increases during the semester, demand for coupons will increase, which in turn increases its price. Increased price leads to reduction in absenteeism as it becomes very expensive to cut classes. Price of the coupons will be in the range of Rs.10 to Rs.120 per LTC. Lower absenteeism results in lower prices for coupons. Students are also allowed to trade the coupons for speculative purposes. They can buy the coupons when the price is less and sell the same when the price is high to make the profit. The trading of coupons exposes the students to market realities & fundamentals.

LTS motivates students to be regular to the classes and enhances their interest in studies & other academic activities. Besides improving the academic performance, it reduces the dropouts and year losses of students. If LTS is introduced, there will be full strength of students in almost all the classes from the first hour of the semester till the last hour of the semester and the average attendance of students can be taken as 95% or above. No student will have a shortage of attendance at the end of the semester. The target attendance of all the students will go up to 100% from 75% or 85%. High level of attendance and motivated students, in turn, encourages the teachers to perform better. The whole process of LTS is a learning experience of various concepts/theories contained in the curriculum in a practical manner and will be enjoyed by the students. LTS automatically reduces absenteeism through self-regulation in a most cordial and effective manner as students start behaving like employees. Students will never get the company of others to bunk classes and mass bunking will completely stop. Faculty members can concentrate on academic activities instead of monitoring attendance and parents will also be stress-free. LTS creates a good academic atmosphere and reduces undesirable activities such as drug abuse, alcohol consumption, smoking, gambling, loitering etc which are by-products of absenteeism. Thus, it benefits all the stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, institution and society at large and saves enormous educational resources of the nation.

Prof. (Dr) Radhakrishna Sharma
Justice KS Hegde Institute of Management
Nitte Deemed to be University
rksharma@nitte.edu.in