Cutting class made easier with app

Pu Lei skips classes all the time - and though he has failed one class he is still expected to graduate with a degree in sports education next year.

But ducking out under a teacher's close watch is never easy. Though the senior at Neijiang Normal University in Sichuan province faces penalties for missing lessons, he takes the risk because there are days when he "just can't even bare the thought of sitting through another boring lecture."

It is these days in particular that has led him to create Super Skipping Assistant, an app that helps students cut class so they can spend more time on studies that interest them most, the 22-year-old app developer said.

Since the free app was released on September 11, more than 20,000 registered users - a number Pu expects will double in the coming weeks - have been depending on it to get out of class, a decision that many disapproving professors are warning against, saying that those caught missing too many lessons are throwing away their chance to earn a degree.

But Pu says that the app, which works by having users post the class they want to skip and a corresponding thank you "reward," such as a free dinner or movie ticket - a way for students to make exchanges with their peers who are willing to sit in on class for them - isn't something that teaching staff should write off just yet.

"The app actually helps students focus on their favorite studies while also giving them an affordable way to seek subjects they're interested in, but never had the chance to study," Pu told the Global Times on Monday.

Reasons for skipping

Sophomore Liang Quanfa at a Guangzhou-based vocational and technical college, said that he's been happy to receive a few free meals since agreeing to attend classes for other students at his school.

"I had the time to spare and was willing to help others out by giving them a chance to do something that they thought was more important," he told the Global Times. "I understand why some people might not want to go to class on some days."

For a freshman at a Beijing university, who asked not to be named, meanwhile, the app has been a lifesaver when he's been caught in a bind - allowing him to find someone to cover for him in class when he's had to pick up extra shifts at work for his part-time job.

As for another sophomore surnamed Wang at Sichuan Normal University, the app was able to get her out of yet another monotonous class on the works of Mao Zedong.

But for Net user Shangxianyue, not enough people at her school rely on the app to make using it worthwhile.

"Only 16 students on my campus use it so I don't think that anyone will be able to help me skip class," said the Net user.

For whatever their reasons, 30 percent of students in China skip class, a figure that isn't all that bad considering that only 12 percent of those who attend class actually pay attention while they're there, suggest statistics released by Beijing-based higher education consultancy MyCOS Data in April.

Schools to blame?

Others, meanwhile, say that schools are in part to blame for students' urges to skip class.

A senior, who asked not to be named from Communication University of China, admitted that he's skipped several classes over the years because of trouble keeping up with the unreasonable workloads demanded of some courses.

He added that many of his classmates also resort to skipping classes when they need more time to complete assignments or cram for tests.

But teachers aren't handing out much sympathy to students who fail to show up to their lectures - after they've put in the time to prepare a lesson.

Hu Sufen, an associate professor at Huazhong Agricultural University's Foreign Languages School in Wuhan, said that the school doesn't accept students' excuses.

"We're very strict; if a student skips more than three classes, he or she can't write the final exam or retake the course," she told the Global Times.

And at schools that take the matter to the next level entirely, Pu's app will be of little use.

Wei Xiaoyong, an associate professor at Sichuan University, relies on a facial recognition roll call-system that has seen attendance improve drastically since it was implemented, West China Metropolis Daily reported earlier this year.