Assessment of Absenteeism and Lateness among Hospitality and Tourism Students in Sunyani Polytechnic
The ultimate aim of every educational institution is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in order to achieve its set objectives. The quality of teaching and the worth of every school is to a large extent assessed on the basis of its academic achievement and how the students performed in the field level. However, it has been observed that, Hospitality and Tourism department in Sunyani Polytechnic face the problem of absenteeism and lateness among students. Nowadays, attitudes of students are constantly changing towards attending lectures. The study is aimed at investigating the causes of the absenteeism and lateness among the students in Hospitality and Tourism department and to seek for solutions to minimize these problems. The study is based on descriptive approach and primary data was mainly used to gather data from the students. The target population includes all students at the department of Hospitality and Tourism of Sunyani Polytechnic with an average age of 18 years.  Questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents.  Data obtained from the study were analysed by using SPSS and the results were presented in the form of   tables. Results of the study showed that illness, financial constraint and distance to school were the major causes of lateness and absenteeism among students. It is recommended that, Management of Sunyani polytechnic as well as other stake holders such as the Student Representative Council (S.R.C.) should provide shuttle buses with moderate fare to convey students to and from school at various vintage points. Keywords: lateness, absenteeism, hospitality and tourism