Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

Presentation
on
Final Report

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

The main objectives of this study are to:

1. Find out the extent of teacher absence and
the reasons;
2. Identify the personal and school level
factors of teacher absenteeism;
3. Measure the effects of teachers attendance
on students attendance and achievement

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

Teachers Absence Rate and Factors of

Teachers Absenteeism

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Teachers Absence rate is estimated for 2006 07 (based on
School Attendance Register) and 2007 08 ( based on Observation) in
terms of
- Overall;
- Gender;
- Social Groups;
- Age;
- Location (Rural / Urban);
- Category of Schools (LPS/HPS/UHPS);
- Regions (six regions - Hyderabad Karnataka, Bombay Karnataka,
South Karnataka (Maidan), South Karnataka (Malnad), South Coastal
Karnataka, North Coastal & Bombay Karnataka);

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
The factors of teacher absenteeism are analyzed at five levels:
a) Overall effect Rural/Urban, LPS/HPS/UHPS, Govt./Aided and Regions;
b) Teacher Personal Factors age, gender, teaching experience, distance
between school & residence, family type, land holding, retail business
activity and money lending activity;
c) School level factors availability of basic amenities, school related work;
d) Frequency of visits by officials CRC, BRC and BEO;
e) Students Strength per instructional room (SCR),
Correlates of Teachers Absenteeism with
a) students attendance and
b) achievement;
Statistical Analyses used : Correlation, ANOVA, t test and Regression

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Teachers absenteeism is observed to be relatively low among
-

Female teachers (19% as against 22% Male);

Urban schools (18% as compared to 22% in Rural schools);
> 50 years aged teachers (15%);
South Coastal district (19% as compared to 20 to 21% in other
regions);

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

Seasonal variation in the absence rate of teachers

due to Leave
There is no set seasonal pattern in teacher absence
due to leave on personal reasons. It is informed that
teachers will avail leave based on the requirement.
However, during the year end, the utilization of leave
is seen. As seen during the first (Nov 2007) and
second (Dec 2007) rounds of the survey, the
absence rate of teachers due to leave being 16%
and 15% as against the state average of teacher
absence due to leave is12% .

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Factors Affecting Teachers Absenteeism

Location of the schools (Rural / Urban) as a factor has no

significant influence on Teacher absenteeism.
Factors such as school management (Govt / Aided), category
(LPS/HPS/UHPS) and regions ( six regions) have significant
influence on Teacher Absenteeism.
Teachers personal factors namely Gender and distance
travelled from residence to school have significant influence
on Teachers Absenteeism;
Age and Experience as personal factors has significant
influence on Teachers Absenteeism in case of sub samples;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Gender Influence on Teachers Absenteeism
It is seen that among the 54% male teachers working, the absenteeism rate is
22%, while among the 46% female working teachers it is 19%. Hence the influence
of gender on teachers absenteeism indicates that for every 1% change from male
to female teachers:
the overall absenteeism reduces by nearly 2.5% - 3% in aided schools and 2%
in government schools;
in rural schools, 2% reduction in teachers absenteeism can be visualized, while
in urban schools gender has no influence on teachers attendance;
absenteeism reduces by 2% to 4% in LPS to UHPS;
higher reduction in absenteeism in South Costal Karnataka (5.4%) is seen as
compared to above 2% reduction in Hyderabad Karnataka, Bombay Karnataka
and South Karnataka (Maidan) regions;

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Distance Traveled and Teachers Absence Rate
The correlation between the teachers attendance rate and the distance
from residence to school shows significant inverse relationship ie.,
longer the distance between the school & residence, teachers
attendance decreases;
It is seen that for every kilometer reduction in the distance between the
residence and the school, teachers absenteeism reduces by 0.12%;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Age of Teachers and Teachers Attendance Rate
The correlation between the age of teachers and Teacher Attendance rate
indicates significant positive correlation in urban schools & HPS category schools
ie., as age increase attendance also increases:
- in urban schools for every one year increase in age of teachers the
teachers attendance increases by 0.60%;
- in HPS the increase will be 0.20%;
In case of teachers of UHPS schools there is an inverse relationship between age
and attendance rate ie., as age of the teacher increases attendance decreases
the decrease is of the order of 0.50%;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Experience and Teachers Attendance Rate
The correlation between number of years of teaching experience and Teacher
Attendance rate indicates significant positive correlation in urban schools, HPS
and in South Karnataka (Maidan) region indicating increase in attendance with
increase in teaching experience:
- in urban schools the attendance increases by 0.36% for every year
of increase in teaching experience;
- in HPS category schools the increase in attendance rate is 0.28%;
- in South Karnataka (Maidan) region the attendance rate increases
by 0.20%;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

School Level factors

The main school level factors relating to
teachers absence is the general toilet
-With every percent increase in the
general toilet availability, the teachers
absence rate will reduce by about 2%;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Students Strength per Instructional Room (SCR) as a
factor on Teachers Attendance
There is no overall effect of students strength per instructional
room on the Teachers Absence;

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Relation of visits by CRC/BRC/BEO on Teachers Attendance
CRCs visit about 90% of the schools in a month as compared to about 50% by
the BRCs;
BEOs visits to schools is mostly on quarterly and above frequency;
There is no trend observed in the frequency of visits by CRCs and teachers
attendance;
Regarding the visits by BRCs and BEOs, there is no relationship with the
frequency of visits and the teachers attendance;

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Effect of Teacher Absenteeism on Students
It is seen that 20% of the students were absent during the
three rounds of the survey;
There is a significant effect of teachers absence on the
students attendance. However the correlation is very low
(0.02). For every 1% increase in teachers attendance, the
students attendance increases by 0.11%;
The effect of teachers absence on the students
achievement during 2006 07 indicates no relationship
between teachers absence and students achievement
(based on school results);

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Effect of Teacher Absenteeism on Students
The effect of teacher attendance on the students performance based
on the KSQAO results for 2008 indicate no correlation between
teacher attendance and overall performance of students in both 5th
and 7th standards.
However in case of aided schools, there is a positive significant
correlation between teacher attendance and performance level in
Mathematics. The correlation coefficients are 0.235 for 5th standard
and 0.245 for 7th standard.
The extent of influence of teacher attendance on the student
performance level in Mathematics in aided schools indicates that with
every percentage increase in the attendance of teachers, the level of
performance of students in mathematics increases by about 0.35% in
both 5th standard and 7th standard.

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Students Performance as per KSQAO 2008 Result
In 19 districts overall achievement of students is higher than state average
In 5th standard the state average is 70%, with a highest achievement level of
90% in Bagalkot district and lowest achievement is in Yadgir district with 55%.
In case of achievement level of students of 7th standard, again Bagalkot district
tops the list with an achievement level of 90% and Madhugiri district with
lowest (56%) as against the overall achievement level of 71%.
Higher level of achievements in the KSQAO-2008 could be attributed to the
Remedial Classes (Parihara Bhodhane)

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Case Study
Seven indicators through which the schools are categorized into good and poor
performance reveal the following which also corroborates the findings from the larger
sample of schools:
HPS
The higher the female to male teacher ratio the lesser will be the teacher absenteeism
rate;
With better infrastructure facilities, the teacher absenteeism rate will be less;
With lesser student teacher ratio, students absenteeism is less;
Students attendance increases with reduction in teacher absenteeism;
LPS
In case of LPS there is no clear trend observed from the case study schools. This may
be due to the lower strength of the students and the teachers.

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State

SSA Mission, Karnataka

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Study on Teacher Absence and Students Attendance in

Primary and Upper Primary Schools of Karnataka State
Action Points
Teachers going for submission of scholarship forms and
collection of scholarship amount could be avoided during the
school working hours.
State policy of No Training during school working days need
to be strictly observed.
Visits by CRC/BRC/BEO (especially CRCs) need to be
systematised and monitored. The monitoring
responsibilities of schools may be entrusted to the Cluster
AEO as per planned time schedules.
Monetary rewards and recognition for teachers who attend to
school for 95% of the days could be explored.

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Thank You

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