Every year, as board examinations approach, a familiar discussion resurfaces dummy admissions. Recent newspaper reports have once again exposed how thousands of students enroll in higher secondary schools but rarely step into a classroom. . But if we listen closely, dummy admissions are not just about attendance. They are a cry for help from students, parents, and even teachers who no longer find meaning in the current structure of schooling. Dummy admissions have slowly turned into a norm. Students take admission in a school only to satisfy official requirements, while their real academic lives unfold somewhere else in crowded coaching centres, far away from the classrooms where learning was once meant to take place. The real question is not why students don’t come to school, but why they believe school no longer serves their purpose

A school should be a place where young minds feel curious, excited, and challenged. But for many students today, classrooms feel outdated and uninspiring. Over the years, policy decisions have allowed people who joined the system decades ago sometimes as MTS or clerical staff to gradually rise to lecturer positions without receiving the fresh academic training needed to teach higher level subjects. Many of these teachers completed their studies 15–20 years ago and have had very few opportunities to upgrade their knowledge since then. As a result: Lessons feel old fashioned, Teaching becomes dependent on notes instead of understanding, Modern exam patterns are unfamiliar and Students feel disconnected from what is being taught
It’s not that these teachers are unwilling or incapable. Many simply never received the training, support, or motivation needed to keep up with a fast changing education landscape. Students can sense when a teacher isn’t confident or updated. And instead of struggling in an environment that doesn’t help them grow, they quietly choose to leave.

Coaching Centres Have Become a Second Home for Students

Into this vacuum step the coaching centres polished buildings, colourful advertisements, tall claims, guaranteed ranks. They have mastered the art of selling hope. Their giant hoardings and front-page newspaper ads project an image that only coaching can lead a child toward success. For parents living in constant fear of competition, this message is deeply persuasive. Coaching centres promise: Personal attention, Test series, Shortcut methods, Direct links to toppers and A community of “serious” students. They offer exactly what schools fail to provide today clarity, confidence, and a sense of direction. But they also operate like businesses. Their motive is expansion, not the emotional or holistic development of students. Still, families flock to them because they fill a void schools once filled.
Students Choose Schools Based on How Much Freedom They Offer to Skip Classes
A silent but powerful trend is shaping our education system: students now actively select higher secondary schools that will allow them to attend coaching instead of regular classes.
During admissions, the most common questions parents ask are:

“Will the school be strict about attendance?”
“Do students actually come to classes here?”
“Is it okay if my child attends coaching instead?”

This flips the purpose of schooling upside down. Instead of choosing schools for quality education, they are chosen for their willingness to be flexible, lenient, and invisible. Many schools, worried about losing students to competitors or facing closure due to low enrolment, quietly agree. They know that insisting on discipline might push families away. And so, a silent contract forms:

Schools take care of paperwork
Coaching centres take care of learning
Students float somewhere in between

This arrangement may appear convenient, but it slowly erodes the dignity and meaning of formal schooling.

The Weight of Society

In our society today, sending a child to school is not enough. A child must also attend coaching, or they are labelled as: less ambitious, less serious , financially weak and academically average Parents fear judgement; students fear being looked down upon. Coaching centres have become symbols of status and safety. Families join the race because everyone else is running. And in this mad rush, the simple joy of learning of understanding, questioning, discovering gets lost.

Teachers Too are Trapped in This Broken System

It is easy to blame teachers, but the truth is more complicated. Many teachers are stuck in a system that does not reward effort or improvement. There is little training, almost no performance evaluation, and minimal emotional support. When most students stop attending school, teachers lose the motivation to prepare new lessons. When no one expects excellence, the desire to innovate fades. With reduced workload and no accountability, complacency becomes a survival mechanism. Thus, students leave because teachers are uninspired, and teachers stop improving because students have left.

Biometric Attendance Is a Bandage on a Deep Wound

Biometric attendance may succeed in forcing students to physically come to school. But it cannot:

Make classrooms engaging
Update teacher knowledge
Rebuild trust between parents and schools
Reduce societal pressure
Control the coaching industry

Attendance does not guarantee learning. A fingerprint machine cannot fill emotional, academic, or structural gaps. If we truly wish to address dummy admissions, we must fix the reasons that push students away.

What Needs to Change ?

Solutions must start with acknowledging the human realities behind this crisis not just the administrative ones. We must look at the system through the eyes of those who live it every day.

For Teachers

Regular training
Opportunities to relearn and up-skill
Recognition for good teaching
Emotional and academic support

For Students

Classrooms that spark curiosity
Teachers who are updated and approachable
A school environment that feels safe, modern, and relevant
Less pressure to “fit in” through coaching

For Parents

Honest communication from schools
Awareness about the importance of attending school
Reduced dependence on advertisements and fear driven choices

For the System

Transparent recruitment policies
Accountability for results
Regulation of coaching centre marketing
Infrastructure that encourages real learning

Schools must once again become places where futures are shaped not mere buildings where names are registered.

Conclusion

Dummy admissions are not an act of rebellion; they are a symptom of a system crying out for change. Students are not running away from learning they are running toward something that feels more helpful. And teachers, too, are not villains; they are often victims of a system that never empowered them. If we respond with punishment, rules, and biometric machines alone, we will miss the real message. But if we respond with empathy, reform, and human understanding, we can rebuild the trust that once made schools the heart of every child’s life.

Email:-------------------essarbhat22@gmail.com