Title: Cases of Absenteeism among Grade VI-Bonifacio Pupils of Central Malamote Elementary School: Basis for Strategic Intervention Plan

Proponent: Marivic J. Ampac

INTRODUCTION

The active presence of children and their embedding of knowledge and skills in the classroom become important issues once they get enrolled in a school. The central characteristics of meaningful access to school education is sustained and active participation of children in teaching-learning process and classroom activities (Lewin, 2007). It has been found that students who attend school regularly score higher in their achievement test, rather than their peers, who remain frequently absent. Today the low attendance is rampant across the country, or what we called absenteeism, the habitual or chronic absences of the pupils from the class. It may affect in different aspects: in terms of personal, emotional and social perspective. Linda L. Williams (2001) further stated that student who skip school a lot miss out on the opportunity to gain quality education. Students with excessive absences may feel disconnected from academics and believed that activities which reduces chances to discover passion, gain recognition for the talent and develop their skills outside the classroom. Disconnected pupils lack accountability that can lead behavioral issues.
Advisers really worry for these pupils because we knew they were the pupils who need development and transformation through education, specifically for their means of living in the future. Administrator and teachers of a particular school try to address this kind of problem by sending a letter to the parents to go to school for some information regarding their children’s absences. However, teacher failed because, they were busy in the farm, finding their food in everyday survival.
Absences, especially those for unexcused reasons, have strong effect on overall classroom education. Learning for this point of view, the core of education is not the curricula itself, not the standard being set nor the guidelines to be followed, but the heart of it-is the pupils. Pupils that are fully develop their potentials, values, competence and determination being fruitful individuals as they function their roles in our society. Noble teachers look absenteeism not subjective nor seem to be judgmental. We need to handle this, with certain measure of considerations depending upon the reason causing it, and decide the course of action to be follows. Background of the Study

Some of the Grade-VI Bonifacio pupils of Central Malamote Elementary School engaged habitual absences from the class. Instead of attending in school within 5 days, these pupils attended class once or twice a week and there were times that they never attended class for successive weeks without any excuse letter or any information sent to the teacher. This was alarming issue for the adviser concerning their academic performance in school. Surely, pupils who were absent suffer many consequences regarding to their performance. How 3
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would these kind of pupils acquire quality of education as fundamental formation for holistic being?
This study aims to generate insight and provide broader understanding about the causes of absenteeism among pupils that may help them to pursue education as their weapon to conquer challenges and achieve better in life. Statement of the Problem

The main inquiry of the study is to determine the cases of absenteeism among the selected Grade VI- Bonifacio pupils of Central Malamote Elementary School as basis in formulating proposed intervention program. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What are the profile of pupils in terms of: 2.1. age; 2.2. gender; 2.3. parents occupation; 2.4. family income; 2.5. family size? 2. What are the causes of absenteeism related to the following factors: 3.6. personal; 3.7. family; 3.8. school; 3.9. environment? 3. Is there a significant difference among the causes of absenteeism when analyzed according to the profile of the respondents? 4. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the causes of absenteeism? 5. What strategic intervention plan may be developed to address the cases of absenteeism of the pupils?

Hypothesis

The null hypotheses to be tested in this study are the following:
Ho1: There is no significant difference in the causes of absenteeism when analyzed according to the profile
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between profile of the pupils and the causes of absenteeism.

Significance of the Study

In many ways, whether in a tiny scale or in a wide range scale the findings of this research will benefit the following individuals in their own respective fields: The Student. Once an individual will know the impact of his doings, he or she will find ways and means to lessen the damage done. It will let this individual know the scope of his abilities and the right way of directing things especially when he would realize the effect of his habitual absences to the school body. To those students who do not have the knowledge on this aspect, they will be given chance to think, and may join the population which influences the declining of absences ratio. The Teachers. The teachers who serve as the parent when a child is in school will be able to formulate ideas on how to reduce the number of students who skip classes or who habitually commit to absences. They will be the keys of motivation and inspiration of their students. The School Administrator. Knowing the factors that affect absenteeism of a student, the school administration the administration will aided in ironing out plans to minimize if not totally eradicate cases of absenteeism of some pupils. . This concerns can then be discussed with the pupil government and so as the pupils body sharing their troubles to the administration. Through a conference with the parents the administration might be able to arrive to solutions which can be applicable to different situations.
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6 The DepEd Authorities. The Department of Education main goal is to be able to produce productive citizens of the community. Absenteeism is one of the factors that disturb the stableness of this goal. When the results are evident, the DepEd authorities together with the different school administration may arrive to a step by step planning to kill the rodents of absenteeism. The Parent. The parents are the direct and the baseline in communication in relation to their child’s regular truancy. Knowing the impact of absenteeism to their child’s learning performance, a parent will be at the concerns of convincing their child to attend school and protect them from the primary causes of their absences.

METHODOLOGY The researchers used the descriptive correlational method. A questionnaire will be used to determine the profile and the causes of absenteeism among the of the pupil respondent where they are going to rate each cause presented. It is to be noted that the questionnaire the pupils has to has to answer will be translated in Filipino Language for them to have better understanding of what they are answering, thus giving more chances of accurate responses. All the data gathered from the respondents will be organized, tallied, tabulated and presented in tables and graphs.

RESEARCH PROCEDURE The following processes will be undertaken during the conduct of the study. 1. Letter of intent to conduct research in the school or in the grade level identified as respondent will be given to the school head for approval to the Division Office 2. Descriptive questionnaire will be prepared and reproduced enough for the number of respondents. 3. The teacher-researcher will see to it that the class is given prior knowledge about conduct of the study. 4. Questionnaire will be distributed to the class identified as respondents pf the study. 5. Tabulation of data will be done for proper analyses. 6. Results will be submitted to the school for future reference. Statistical Treatment of Data The data gathered will be tallied and tabulated. The information found in the pupil’s survey questionnaire/ checklist will be tallied and organized into tables. The student’s grade will be verified and obtained from their adviser trough their report card or permanent record. Descriptive statistics will be employed in this study. To obtain the weighted mean, the following formula will be used. 1. The Weighted Mean was used to measure which of the items have heavier weight and lesser weight. This will guide the researcher in making decisions. X = f1X1f Where: X = weighted mean f1 = frequency of the ith rating X1 = ith rating ∑ = summation The ranges of the scale for the weighted means verbal interpretation will be as follows. Ranges | Verbal description | 3.40 – 4.00 | Very Significant (VS) | 2.70 – 3.39 | Significant (S) | 1.50 – 2.69 | Least Significant | 1.00 – 1.49 | Not significant | 27
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This scale will be used to measure the factors that cause absenteeism among the respondents 2. The Percentage formula will be used to determine the number of percent for each item in a given group of the pupils profile. The percentage formula: % = fn x 100 Where: % = the percent or rate f = the number of respondents in each item n = total the number of respondents 3. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models used to analyze the differences between group means and their associated procedures (such as "variation" among and between groups), developed by R.A. Fisher. In the ANOVA setting, the observed variance in a particular variable is partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation. In its simplest form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether or not the means of several groups are equal, and therefore generalizes the t-test to more than two groups. As doing multiple two-sample t-28
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tests would result in an increased chance of committing a statistical type I error, ANOVAs are useful in comparing (testing) three or more means (groups or variables) for statistical significance. 4. Correlation Coefficient - will be used to determine the significant relationship between the two variables. .