HOW DO SCHOOLS FAIL TO ATTRACT OUR STUDENTS?

Background: It is widely accepted that belonging to group such as school, families and communities contribute in a number of dimensions of well being of an individual. These dimensions may include general life satisfaction, cognitive performance, academic work and physical health. If an individual has weak social ties, feel socially disconnected and experience anomie - a mismatch between individual and community norms and values, there are greater chances of poor mental health. Young people spend much of their time within the school environment; therefore it must be interesting to study the school context (school connectedness, ethos and contextual factors such as school size or denomination) on the part of students and how they relate it to their well being. The aim of the present study is to explore school ethos among higher secondary students. Method: A school based descriptive study was conducted to explore school ethos as regarded by higher secondary students. SEM (MacBeath et al., 1992) was used as a measure of school ethos. 666 students (Male = 226, female = 440) were selected as participants. Results: Only 10% students were found to have positive perception towards their school. Conclusion: A very low percentage of students have positive attitude towards their school. Schools fail to attract students. Therefore, it is needed that to make our schools student friendly and safe and to work in the direction of making our classes attractive and more interactive which will help students to feel more associated and comfortable with school.