Setting the record straight

Children in Bahraich district mark their own attendance. This has ensured that attendance registers arent tampered with.

This is an every day scene in primary and upper primary government schools in Bahraich,a district on the Indo-Nepal border. A huge register,called the chhatra upasthithi panjika or the students attendance register,lies open on the teachers table. As soon as a student enters the class,she looks for her name and signs against it.

A seemingly simple practice but one that has ensured that attendance registers in the districts 2,239 primary and 3,219 junior high schools arent tampered with and have no inflated claims of attendance. Its also a means to check whether a student in class V can write her name.

The exercise began as a pilot project in Tajwapur block in the district in April this year and after its success,was implemented across all schools in Bahraich,covering 4.25 lakh students. The literacy percentage of the district is barely 35 per cent,which is lowest in the state after neighbouring Shravasti district.

According to the curriculum,children in class III should be able to read and write their names. But even children of class V couldnt do so. We realised that there should be a way that these children are made to practice writing their names every day, says district magistrate Rigzin Samphel,the man behind the idea.

The project was taken up under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and in Tajwapur,where the pilot was conducted,special attendance registers were printed which could accommodate names of all the students and had one column for each day. While absentees were marked with a red A,those present were made to write their names. While children from class III to V mark their attendance in Hindi,those from class VI to VIII mark it in English.

At the Moglaha primary school,Avadhesh,a student of class IV,takes his panjika seriously. His friends Rajkumar,Saleem,Noorbano and Gausiya wait for him to finish. Mujhe apna naam likhna bahut achcha lagta hai. Main toh roz apna naam panjika mein darz karta hun. Kabhi kabhi teacherji jab achchi lekhni ke liye tareef karti hain,toh aur achcha lagta hai I like writing my name in the attendance register. And when the teacher praises me for my good handwriting,I love it, says Avadhesh.

Principal Shabnam Bano says the children took to the register with ease. Initially,we had to help them find their names. But now,after five months,they really enjoy doing this, she says.

Story continues below this ad

In the Veershapur upper primary school,children write their names in English. Archana,a student of class VIII,says she shifted from a private school in July. I could not spell my name in English as no one taught me. But in two months,I can read it and write it too,thanks to the attendance system, says Archana,as she marks her attendance for the day.

The district education department is happy with the practice since it has made it difficult to tamper with attendance records. Dharmendra Kumar Saxena,district education officer,says,It is very important to have the correct number of students to implement schemes like the midday meal programme and the scholarship programme. This new system has managed to check corruption in these schemes.