All that matters is showing up

ou have submitted every assignment on time, given confident presentations before the whole class, performed well in midterms, and participated wholeheartedly in extracurricular activities. Yet, your academic journey is marked as “unsatisfactory”. You might even be debarred from the end-of-semester exams, all because your attendance falls below 75%.

When teachers were reading outdated slides in class, you were out there doing internships and developing real-world skills. You studied the topics listed in the syllabus not by sitting in lectures, but by learning from online sources. Yet, the system does not care about what you have learned; it only cares about where you learned it from. The rule values presence over performance, quantity over quality.

Outdated rule

The 75% attendance rule was originally introduced to promote discipline and ensure regularity. The intention was noble: to encourage students to attend classes and stay engaged with the syllabus. But in practice, this rule has largely failed to achieve its goal. Students no longer attend classes to learn; they attend to mark their presence. For many, classrooms have become just another checkbox to tick rather than a space for intellectual growth.

This obsession with attendance raises an uncomfortable question: has education become so uninspiring that students show up only because they are forced to? If classroom teaching merely means reading from slides, is that truly education?

The reality is harsh, students scroll through reels at the backbench while professors mechanically read presentations. The process is being followed, but the purpose is lost.

If students are attending college out of compulsion and not curiosity, then the system needs introspection. Shouldn’t teachers whose classes attract genuine learners, not attendance seekers, be recognised as examples of effective teaching? Students pay lakhs in fees, yet many attend not for learning but to maintain a percentage. It’s a silent irony of higher education: students come to college to stay eligible, not educated.

Beyond learning, the rule also stifles personal development. Internships, debates, speeches, and research work, all essential for building confidence and real-world experience, often take a backseat because students can’t risk losing attendance. How can one develop skills beyond the four walls of a classroom when the system traps them inside?

Modern employers don’t ask for grades or attendance; they ask for experience. Yet, students barely get time to gain any, as they are busy meeting a number. The focus on attendance undermines the very purpose of higher education to prepare individuals for life beyond college.

It’s time to rethink this approach. Education should invite students through inspiration, not compulsion. Colleges must create classrooms where learning feels meaningful, where students attend not because they have to, but because they want to. Alongside attendance, systems must also reward engagement in research, skill development, and creative pursuits.

If India truly wishes to become a developed nation, it must equip its youth with practical and critical skills, something that can’t be achieved through attendance registers, but through a curriculum that values curiosity over compulsion, and learning over logging hours.

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