The school education department has instructed headmasters of government high and higher secondary schools to choose one member from the School Management Committee (SMC) for monitoring the attendance of Class 10 and Class 12 students who are scheduled to take the board examinations this year.

The main goal is to identify students who have been long-term absentees or have dropped out and to ensure that they sit for the board examination.

Reasons for monitoring and selection process

"Some students tend to take long leaves or drop out during the board examination period for various reasons. Parental support is low for such students. To address this, Class 10 and 12 students will be closely monitored to prevent long absences and ensure they appear for the exams. For this, a SMC member will be selected on November 7," an educational officer in Coimbatore told TNIE.

Role and responsibilities of the SMC member

"The member should check once a week whether students are attending school regularly. In addition, the class teacher should inform the member if any student takes leave for more than five days or remains absent for a long period. The member will then visit the student's home, inquire about the reasons for their absence, and take steps with the headmaster's support to bring the student back to school," he explained.