indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

8, "During groundnut picking season, many children will not come. The whole
family will be in the field picking groundnuw (A pnrnary school teacher In a
group d~scussion).
jii) Other epidemioloaical methods
Data on this issue were obta~ned from cohort study and cross secbonal school survey.
2 Cohort Study
1" the cohort there were 54 glrls and 89 boys who were In school Dunng a one year
fo~lowup. it was observed that Inclement weather wndlbon was the maln cause of
school absenteelsm followed by ~llness, nslts outs~de the nllage, work, playfulness, and
fam~lylcommun~ty functlon (Tables 6.8 and 6.9). The gender speclflc proportlon of
school days lost by cause IS glven In F~gure 6 5 The proportlon of school days lost due
to Illness and work was more for boys when compared to glrls Adverse weather
condltlons resulted In a hlgh degree of school absence, particularly In the pnmary
school chlldren
Cross sectional school survey
Data on the causes of absenteelsm was obtalned from 226 children dunng school
wslts This Included 95 girls, of whom 28, 58 and 9 girls were from the primacy, middle
and high school levels respectively and 131 boys of whom 28, 80 and 23 boys were In
respectwe school levels. The causes of absenteeism as revealed from the school
survey are given in Tables 6.10 and 6.11. The most wmrnon cause of school
absentee~srn in girls was found to be illness, while in boys it was work. Apart from
lliness and work which were the major causes of school absence, other important
causes were local festivals and visits to other places. The propomon of chlldren with