Mandating Student Presence, Erasing Learning

The Delhi High Court ruled that law students cannot be barred from examinations solely for failing to meet rigid attendance requirements, reopening a long-standing debate on the purpose of higher education.

Significance of the Delhi High Court Ruling

• Teacher Innovation: The fear of empty classrooms will compel teachers to upgrade their teaching methods and make learning more engaging.
• Peer Motivation: Student motivation will shift from the fear of punishment to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), driven by peer interest and classroom engagement.
• True Discovery: The ruling reaffirms that the university’s purpose is to facilitate discovery and critical thinking, not merely to distribute information, which digital tools can already do.
• Restoration of Academic Purpose: The judgment affirms that learning cannot be enforced through compulsion.

Pedagogical Failure Behind Attendance Enforcement

• Classroom as Information Transfer: Attendance obsession thrives where classrooms merely transmit outdated notes and prefabricated knowledge. Attendance measures compliance rather than learning or engagement.
• Coercion versus Scholarship: Coercion produces neither intellectual seriousness nor genuine scholarship.
• Institutional Apathy: Enforced attendance masks pedagogical bankruptcy rather than addressing it.
  

Paulo Freire- Models of Education

• Banking Model: In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire critiques the banking model of education, where the teacher “deposits” knowledge into students who are treated as empty vessels, reducing learning to rote memorisation and discouraging questioning, dialogue, and the development of critical thinking
• Dialogic Model: In the dialogic model, education is understood as a process of dialogue.
  • Teachers and students jointly seek truth through discussion and inquiry.
  • This approach raises critical consciousness and enables reflective thinking.

Case Study- The Magnetic Classroom

• Isaiah Berlin’s Intellectual Craftsmanship: Sir Isaiah Berlin’s lectures captivated students due to meticulous preparation and narrative craftsmanship.
• Reading Wordsworth in Nature: Teaching “Tintern Abbey” outdoors transformed the poem into a living reflection on memory and perception.
  • Great Universities trust students’ maturity.

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Indian Context- Where Are We Failing?

• “Yellowing Notes”: Teachers often recycle decade-old content, raising the question of why students should attend classes when the information is readily available online.
• Loss of Autonomy: Universities have turned into “intellectual vassals,” where dissent is silenced, and independent thinking is discouraged.
• Bureaucratic Overreach: Administrative authorities increasingly decide syllabi instead of teachers, accompanied by excessive surveillance.
• Paternalistic Mindset: Adult students are treated like children or “wards” rather than as thinking, autonomous individuals.

Conclusion

The Delhi High Court ruling affirms that higher education thrives on engagement, not obedience, urging institutions to embrace pedagogical excellence and academic freedom, as Socrates said- “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

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