Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 23

While it was common to hear college students marking proxy attendance of their classmates during roll calls in online sessions, this trend has now percolated the primary class level as well.

It is common for schoolteachers to discover almost every second day that a family member or a sibling or a friend has been calling proxy for the student concerned. Since classes for schools are still being digitally run, it is not always students who join in – at times, it is their parents, elder brother or sister or a friend substituting for them.

Giving excuses such as internet connection not being good enough, students are notorious for entering the virtual classroom and then disappearing soon. Some even doze off or indulge in mischief or move away from the system asking their parents or siblings to handle their roll calls.

While some teachers take screenshots for attendance, others do a proper roll call and some ask to fill up the Google form. It is during roll call, an ominous time in the middle of the class, or when teachers ask students to switch on videos or some simple questions related to class that they often get caught with proxies.

A student of Class V of Apeejay School, shares: “A girl student was known to have a very good, peculiar accent in class. When a teacher was taking the attendance, she noted the changed voice. This raised her suspicions and asked a question from her. The girl had always been very interactive and upfront with the answers, but she left the Google Meet immediately. So, our teacher became furious and we all had got a stern talking-to from her.”

Similarly, a Class IV boy of St Joseph’s Convent School, said: “I had to go to market with my dad. I asked my brother to attend my class and simply type in ‘yes ma’am’ when my name came. But the teacher asked my brother to come on the video, and he put in ‘bad network excuse’. The teacher was unrelenting. So, she asked him my roll number, which he did not know and hence caved in.” The teacher had marked him absent and sent a note to his parents over the phone asking them to ensure he was attentive in future.”

A teacher from Police DAV Public School, revealed: “It was extremely difficult to cross-check that the actual students were really attending the class. Proxies in attendance were very common and children were reprimanded for this. When we ask them to switch on their mikes and respond, only a few of them responded, while the rest were missing or dozing off.”

Winter-time classes often turn out to be infuriating. “Classes are far more difficult to handle as kids are often seen taking classes lying in their beds! And it is really annoying,” the teacher adds.