A notice, dated May 3, issued by Delhi University’s Hansraj College has become an amusing topic of discussion on social media. The notice has asked those college students who have less attendance to bring their parents to college for a meeting with the faculty. Though the college authorities are of the opinion that it was necessary to share such crucial information about students with their parents, the young guns are all angsty and feel it’s like being sent back to school!
“My friends and I have received the notice for low attendance and have been asked to bring our parents to meet the teachers,” says Anuj Rana, second-year student of BA (Prog) at Hansraj, adding, “My parents are based in Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and can’t come to Delhi so I was told to bring a local guardian, but I don’t have anyone here. The reason I have low attendance is because I work as a freelance a model and product designer to sustain myself in the city… My flatmate too has been asked to call his parents and now we’re considering just going as each other’s guardians!”
A final year student of the college, on condition of anonymity, shares, “It’s only since last semester that our college authorities have started taking strict action against those whose attendance is low. Defaulters have always been there, but it was only after last semester that a lot of students were asked to sign a declaration that they will try and improve their attendance… I’m part of a cultural society and my professors recognise me so attendance is not an issue in my case. But I feel it’s so unfair for others who are not as popular as me and have been performing as part of various cultural societies to win medals for the college and are in turn being asked to bring their parents to receive complaints about their low attendance! I don’t think all parents know how many hours we invest in rehearsals during college.”
Rama Sharma, principal, Hansraj College, states, “PTM has been arranged because last year when there were attendance issues reported later, parents said that they had no idea about their students not attending classes… We usually email to the ID that the students submit, but many mention their own email ID (instead of their guardians). In such scenario parents never get to know ki unke bachchon ki attendance low hai, and later they question us that why didn’t we share this information with them in time! It was hence essential for us to arrange a meeting with the parents especially now when the admission process is also online. It’s also important for the college to check on the students’ background and if they need any sort of help, which is possible only when we get to meet the parents. And this is not the first time that we are calling the parents for such a meeting, but this time the attendance has been so low that we had to issue a notice. I feel holding regular PTMs is important to create a bridge between the parents and the college authorities.”
