Effects of Teacher’s Absenteeism on Students Learning at Public Secondary Level in District Kotli Azad Kashmir

Abstract

Education is a procedure of civilization and advancement. Reducing teacher absenteeism has therefore become an important issue in promoting education outcomes in the country, particularly in public secondary schools. This study finds out the causes and effects of teachers absenteeism on student learning at public secondary level of district Kotli Azad Kashmir. It was descriptive study in nature.  The effects of teacher’s absenteeism were also seen on student’s performance.  The main objective of the study was to determine different factors which cause teachers absenteeism and also find out its effects on students learning. All teachers of public secondary schools of District Kotli Azad Kashmir constituted population of the study. Simple random sampling technique was used in this study to draw the sample from population and 20% schools (28 schools) were selected randomly as the sample of the study.  From all selected 28 secondary schools of district Kotli 196 teachers were randomly selected for data collection process. However for the pilot testing process, ten secondary schools (five male and five female) of district Kotli were selected and these schools were also included in final study. The data obtained was tabulated and analyzed by using SPSS software. The conclusion is that that job security of teachers in public sector, teachers low pay, lack of accountability, political influence in education, teachers’ further education, lack of public interest in education matters, lack of facilities for teachers and long distance from school are some major causes of teachers’ absenteeism.  The student performance in the classroom remains low when a regular classroom teacher absent from the class. It is concluded that teacher’s absenteeism is one of the primary causes of student’s academic failure. The main recommendations of the study was responsibilities should be taken seriously, honestly and dedicatedly, proper accountability system should be formulated, bio metric attendance system should be adopted to reduce teacher absenteeism, Surprise schools visits should be made by higher education authorities for checking, teachers recruitment should be done through proper analysis, enough salary packages, transport accommodation and other required facilities should be provided to the teachers to reduce absenteeism problem from public schools.

Keywords: Absenteeism, Effects, Teachers, Students, Teaching, Learning, Quality, Education.