Bihar CM Asks Newly Appointed Assistant Professors to Ensure 75% Student Attendance
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has asked newly appointed assistant professors in the state to work toward ensuring at least 75% student attendance in colleges, putting classroom participation, regular teaching and academic discipline at the centre of Bihar's higher-education expansion plans.
The direction comes at a time when Bihar is increasing the number of degree colleges and appointing new faculty members across the state. While increasing the availability of higher education is important, the government's latest message highlights another challenge: colleges cannot achieve their academic purpose unless students actually attend classes regularly.
The focus on 75% attendance could therefore become an important part of Bihar's attempt to improve the quality of government higher education while reducing the need for students to migrate to other states for study.
Why 75% Student Attendance Has Become Important
Attendance is often treated as an administrative requirement, but regular classroom participation affects almost every part of the learning process.
Students who attend classes consistently have more opportunities to interact directly with faculty members, participate in discussions, complete practical work, receive feedback and understand difficult topics before examinations.
Low attendance, on the other hand, can weaken the relationship between teachers and students even when qualified faculty members have been appointed.
The 75% attendance push therefore sends a message that expanding infrastructure alone will not be enough.
Colleges need active classrooms.
Bihar Expands Higher Education Infrastructure
Bihar has been expanding the number of degree colleges in an effort to make higher education more accessible, particularly for students living outside major cities.
New colleges can significantly reduce the financial and logistical burden on families that would otherwise have to send students to distant districts or other states.
For many families, studying away from home involves much more than tuition fees.
- Hostel or rented accommodation costs
- Food expenses
- Daily transportation
- Travel between home and college
- Additional coaching expenses
A functioning local college can reduce many of these costs.
However, simply establishing a college building does not automatically create a strong educational institution.
The college must have qualified teachers, functioning laboratories where required, reliable timetables, libraries, student-support systems and consistent academic activity.
New Assistant Professors Can Strengthen Colleges
The appointment of new assistant professors can play a major role in improving classroom regularity.
Teacher shortages are one of the factors that can weaken attendance.
If classes are frequently cancelled because departments do not have enough faculty members, students gradually stop seeing value in attending college every day.
More faculty members can help institutions maintain regular timetables, reduce dependence on temporary arrangements and improve academic interaction.
Assistant professors can also contribute beyond classroom lectures.
- Academic mentoring
- Career counselling
- Research guidance
- Student seminars
- Projects and presentations
- Competitive-exam guidance
- Identification of academically weak students
These activities can make a college environment significantly more engaging.
Why Students From Bihar Often Move Outside the State
Large numbers of students from Bihar continue to move to educational hubs such as Delhi, Kota, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and other cities.
The reasons vary.
Some students leave because a particular course is unavailable near home.
Others believe institutions outside the state offer stronger academic opportunities or better placement prospects.
Competitive-exam preparation is another major reason for migration.
If Bihar can improve college quality, strengthen faculty availability and create stronger academic ecosystems within the state, more students may eventually choose to remain closer to home.
Attendance Alone Cannot Improve Higher Education
A 75% attendance requirement can encourage students to attend college, but physical presence alone does not guarantee learning.
The quality of classroom teaching matters just as much as the attendance percentage.
If students attend only because they are afraid of being stopped from examinations, the policy may achieve compliance without creating meaningful engagement.
Institutions therefore need to make classrooms academically valuable.
Teachers can use interactive lectures, real-world examples, presentations, case discussions, practical assignments and regular feedback to improve participation.
Students Also Need Institutional Accountability
Attendance requirements should work in both directions.
If students are expected to maintain 75% attendance, colleges should also be expected to conduct scheduled classes consistently.
A student cannot reasonably maintain attendance if lectures are repeatedly cancelled.
Institutions should therefore publish reliable timetables and ensure faculty availability.
Cancelled lectures should be rescheduled wherever possible.
Academic calendars should clearly communicate working days, internal assessments and examination periods.
Digital Attendance Could Improve Transparency
Digital attendance systems could help reduce disputes between students and institutions.
Manual registers can contain errors and may not give students an easy way to monitor their percentage throughout the semester.
A digital system could allow students to see their current attendance regularly.
Automated alerts could be generated when attendance falls below a specified level.
That would allow students to respond before the shortage becomes serious.
However, institutions must also maintain a mechanism to correct genuine errors.
Technology should improve transparency rather than create an inflexible system where one incorrect entry becomes impossible to fix.
Attendance Can Affect Employability
Regular classroom participation can have benefits beyond semester examinations.
Students develop communication, teamwork, presentation and problem-solving skills through active academic participation.
College is not merely a place to obtain a degree certificate.
Students who attend only near examination time may pass their courses while missing many of the experiences that prepare graduates for employment.
Faculty members can use regular attendance to introduce:
- Group projects
- Presentations
- Debates
- Research assignments
- Industry-oriented projects
- Internship guidance
Faculty Training Could Improve Classroom Quality
Bihar has also discussed providing selected faculty members with exposure to reputed academic institutions and international education practices.
Such training can be valuable if teachers return with practical ideas that can be adapted to local colleges.
Exposure to new assessment methods, teaching technology and research practices can improve the academic environment.
The most important question is whether training translates into actual classroom improvements.
Quality and Quantity Must Grow Together
Higher education policy frequently faces a difficult balance between increasing access and maintaining quality.
If there are too few colleges, students are excluded.
If many colleges are created without strong teachers or academic systems, access increases but quality suffers.
Bihar's challenge is therefore to increase both the number and quality of educational opportunities.
New infrastructure must be matched by:
- Qualified faculty
- Academic monitoring
- Libraries
- Laboratories
- Digital infrastructure
- Student mentoring
- Career support
What Students Should Know About Attendance Rules
Students should not assume that the exact implementation will be identical across every university or college.
Institutions should clearly communicate attendance requirements at the beginning of the academic session.
Students should know how attendance is calculated, whether practical and theory classes are counted separately and what provisions exist for genuine medical or exceptional situations.
It is also important for colleges to communicate shortages early.
A student should not discover for the first time just before an examination that attendance has fallen below the required level.
Role of Newly Appointed Assistant Professors
The newly appointed assistant professors can play an important role in shaping the academic culture of Bihar's expanding college network.
Rather than treating attendance as a disciplinary statistic, teachers can create classrooms students genuinely want to attend.
A good teacher can make a difficult subject understandable, connect academic concepts with careers and encourage students to pursue research or higher studies.
That type of academic engagement can produce stronger attendance naturally.
Final Takeaway
Bihar's push for at least 75% student attendance reflects a broader attempt to ensure that expansion of colleges and faculty recruitment leads to meaningful classroom learning.
Attendance can strengthen academic discipline, but the long-term success of the initiative will depend on more than enforcement.
Regular classes, good teaching, transparent attendance records, academic mentoring and functioning college infrastructure will all be necessary.
If Bihar can combine expanded access with stronger academic quality, students may gain more credible higher-education opportunities within the state instead of feeling compelled to move elsewhere.
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