Absenteeism in school is the habit of staying away from school without providing a genuine or any reason for not attending classes. Absenteeism is a truant behavior that negatively affects the performance among students.

Attendance in classrooms is made compulsory to ensure continuity in the student’s learning process. When a student is regularly absent from class, it has an adverse affect on their academic performance. This is because frequent absences may lead to missing out on vital information, facts and instructions that result in partial understanding of a topic, submission of incomplete work and poor participation in class activities. Some schools also dictate that students should have a particular attendance percentage in order to appear for exams. Therefore it is of utmost importance that parents ensure that their children attend classes.

Use different reinforcements to motivate students to attend classes. Pinning an attendance sheet on the classroom board is a visual reminder of all the classes they have missed. Rewards can be handed out to the student with the maximum attendance (works well in the lower classes) and instead of punishments, students with lower attendance can be given the duty of performing different class chores (students and teacher can collectively decide this, in advance).

Educate the students regarding the importance of attendance, the adverse effects of absenteeism and school rules concerning the same.

Plan for active, interactive and engaging class sessions to rule out boredom and disinterest as causes of absenteeism. This can be done by incorporating various active strategies like role playing, debates or through use of technologies like smart boards, clickers etc.