For Pk unis, possibly my most unpopular opinion: Attendance reqs make little sense. If we're teaching anything worth learning, students will attend. Affording pts for class or discussion participation, measuring participation in class, on class blogs or groups, is more purposive

Even if we have minimum attendance requirements, we should allow leeway for sick students. Sick students don't deserve an F notation on their transcripts. Students who miss 4 or 5 lectures for non-seminar classes may still pass midterm and final exams.

Students who are seriously sick for extended periods deserve the option of withdrawing, securing a W, not an F, on their transcripts

In the context of COVID-19, no Pakistani university should create a situation where COVID-19 positive students are incentivized to attend in-person classes in contravention of Government of Pakistan guidelines on isolation and quarantine: http://covid.gov.pk/guideline 

I hope we remember that we run universities, places that foster creativity, research, innovation & scientific discovery. We're not running jails or penitential reformatories meant to 'discipline' people. That's not our job. Our students are adults and citizens with rights.

Some of the world's best universities have done away with attendance entirely. The last time I personally responded to attendance roll call, I was in a Pakistani high school.

One of the most gifted humans I know - a Pakistani scientist/engineer at Cambridge - would skip all classes, miss supervisions, submit no assignments all year - and still TOP end of year exams. He was brilliant, widely recognized as such & probably far ahead of most professors.

Most of our students may not be like him. And I wouldn't want to engage in logical fallacy of faulty generalization. But we ought to integrate some acceptable version of findings on 'different people learn differently / multidimensional learning model'

Some students need the discipline of the classroom, others may not. We should be weary of stifling the next generation of Pakistani talent through requirements concerning attendance and the wearing of shoes

e.g. how does wearing chappals interfere with learning? Some of my students are too poor to afford shoes and it's sad that we perpetuate classist inequities through our requirements

For my business law classes, every other term, I have a few students auditing my classes. These students attend despite not being enrolled. They receive no credit or grades for attending. They sometimes sit on the floor, bring in extra chairs or stand if we're short of space

My classes max out every term. Last Fall, all my sections were at max capacity w 50 students in each. Some computer sci students who weren't enrolled found some extra seats to sit on. They came all term. They even came to office hrs w fascinating qs+asked for extra, extra reading

I share this story to illustrate my point: By and large, I've found that eager, curious Pakistani students who want to learn something tend to find a way to learn it. We should treat them with the respect they deserve and make due concessions for their health, safety & wellbeing

*I wrote this thread for regular law, governance and development lectures at Pakistani universities. I can't speak to requirements for classes requiring labs, studio-based work or other performative activities. Different considerations may apply to those.