Sending attendance records to parents curbs our freedom, say IIT-B students

IIT Bombay's decision to send attendance records to parents faces backlash from students, who feel it infringes on their freedom and increases pressure

MUMBAI: IIT Bombay’s act of sending freshers’ attendance records to parents has not gone down well with the former, who say that such an action curbs their freedom and could put unnecessary pressure on them. This feedback has made it to a new report published by ‘Insight’, the official student media body of the institute, on its portal on December 3.

IIT Bombay (Arne Hückelheim / Wikimedia Commons)

The initiative to mandatorily record students’ attendance and send bi-weekly reports to their parents or guardians was among the several policies introduced by the institute in 2023 to reduce stress among students, particularly first-year undergraduates. However, it was implemented only this academic year on account of certain glitches. The first attendance report was sent to parents on September 26 and the next one on October 16.

The move was set in motion after the alleged suicide of a first-year chemical engineering student in February 2023. Following his death, IIT Bombay announced the formation of the Academic Stress Mitigation Committee (ASMC) on March 6, 2023, which made several recommendations, including the attendance one. The 256th senate meeting of the institute finalised the decision along with many others.

‘Insight’ explored the rationale behind this recommendation through interviews with professor Kishore Chatterjee, co-convenor of the Academic Stress Mitigation Committee (ASMC), professor P Sunthar, head ASMC, professor Bhaskaran Raman, head SAFE (Smart, Authenticated, Fast Exams), and the student representatives who were involved in the process. Its report states that sending an attendance record could create differences between parents and children. ‘Potential restrictions or monitoring from the parents’ side may limit the students’ inclusion into the IIT-B culture in all aspects other than academics,’ it adds.

As mentioned earlier, attendance began being recorded through the SAFE app in the last academic year but was not sent immediately to parents, as the software infrastructure was not ready, and a few students were facing issues in registering for courses and marking attendance on the app. In 2024-25, therefore, the team improved the interface and introduced another option viz ‘Did not mark attendance’. This option is applicable when the student is not present at the lecture. ‘Verification failed’ is when the attempt to mark and verify attendance has failed.

The ‘Insight’ report pointed out the ineffectiveness of the initiative. ‘Although we have information that the attendance records are sent to parents at regular intervals, we are unaware of any procedure for intervention that the administration has planned, once it finds that the attendance of a student has gone below a threshold,’ it says. The report points out that currently, the Student Mentorship Program Coordinators (SMPCs) and those in charge of FacAds (an attendance system) are not informed about the attendance data, leaving them unable to do anything about low attendance.

In conclusion, the Insight report states, ‘Implementing a systematic method that identifies early warning signs and ensuring timely interventions can significantly aid freshers in their integration into the IIT Bombay community. This proactive approach can lead to a more supportive academic culture, where every student feels valued and can grow as an individual.’ The report also quotes Chatterjee saying, ‘Missing classes may be an early sign that a student may be struggling to integrate into the IIT system.’

Shireesh Kedare, director of IIT Bombay, avoided commenting on the attendance policy, saying that the institute believed that the main problem was how to make the teaching-learning process more exciting. “Attendance could just be one of the symptoms of this root problem,” he said. “We want to bring in reforms to enthuse students about learning. We are working on possible solutions and are taking inputs from students, faculty and even alumni. We have been working on this for the last five months.”