Maharashtra: Honour of flag and musical band helps school raise daily attendance of students

NEW DELHI: A government-run primary school in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has come up with an innovative method to increase the attendance of students - by honouring the class with the largest turnout of its enrolled pupils on a particular day with a flag. The students of such a class are made to feel even more special as they are taken to their classroom amid the accompaniment of music played by the school band.

The Zilla Parishad school at Kingaon in Phulambri tehsil of the district, located around 30 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, has developed this unique method, with its authorities saying that it has helped the attendance to go up by nearly 30 per cent. "A total of 108 students study in this Zilla Parishad-run school. They belong to Kingaon village and nearby settlements. Some students used to miss the school assembly and reach when the classes already began. They used to miss the recital of prayers and important information given at that time," headmaster Mahendra Kuwar told PTI.

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Class with full strength gets special honour

"Therefore, we undertook this initiative three months ago wherein we started taking the headcount of the class at the time of the assembly. If a particular class is found with its maximum strength vis-à-vis its enrolled students, then that class is honoured with the 'attendance flag' on that day," he said.

"We have a small band in the school. The band then takes the students of that class to the classroom amid the accompaniment of music. The attendance flag is then placed in front of that classroom for the entire day," the headmaster said. According to him, this exercise has improved attendance and it has reached 98 per cent. Talking about it, Deputy Commissioner (establishment and development planning) Suresh Bedmutha praised the school authorities for the initiative.