24 April 2016
Singapore Polytechnic (SP) has recently launched a new system of recording student attendance via keying in a password into an app on their smartphones. If students fail to do so within 15 minutes, they will be marked as absent.
However, SP’s students have expressed concerns about the new system of marking attendance. Firstly, not everyone may be affluent enough to have access to a smartphone. Secondly, the system is inherently susceptible to software glitches and internet outages. Already, students have complained that sometimes the wifi connection was down, or that the app had malfunctioned. Thirdly, students can send the password to their friends who are not in class and they will be able to key it into their smartphone app without turning up. Fourthly, the system penalizes students who are not tech-savvy.
The app system was started in April last year and replaced one where teachers took attendance manually before keying it in electronically.
At polytechnics, insufficient attendance have an adverse effect on student’s final grade.
Since the system was started last year, overall punctuality and attendance rates “have improved”, said SP.