Student attendance register, in Excel with formulas.

How the percentage is worked out

Attendance percentage is the days a student was present, divided by the working days in the period, times 100. A student present on 182 of 200 working days is at 91%.

The register only counts days that have a mark:

• P (present) counts as a day present.
• A (absent) and L (on leave) count as working days the student missed.
• H (holiday) and empty cells, such as Sundays, aren't counted at all.

Leave still lowers the percentage, because the student wasn't in class. Mark it as L anyway. When a board decides whether to excuse a shortage, it asks for the reasons. CBSE's 2025 circular warns that students missing without leave records may be treated as non-attending.

The 75% rule

CBSE and CISCE both set 75% for their board exams, and colleges set their own. The details differ, and they matter when a student is close to the line.

For CBSE, attendance is counted from the day Class X or XII teaching starts up to the 1st of the month before the board exams begin. The school has to recommend condonation to its regional office no later than three weeks before the exams. Its 2024 and 2025 circulars repeat that the rule is applied strictly and that a relaxation needs documents.

CISCE counts attendance up to 15 February for ICSE and 31 January for ISC candidates. For colleges, the UGC's 2025 regulations leave the minimum to each institution, so check your own university's rule rather than assuming 75%.

To see how many days a student can still miss, or needs to attend, use the attendance percentage calculator.

What the Excel file does

• Setup holds the school, class, section, class teacher, the year the session starts and the minimum percentage. Type the student list here once and every sheet picks it up.
• Each month sheet works out its own dates from the session year, so February has 28 or 29 days and Sundays are shaded. Only P, A, L and H are accepted in the mark cells.
• The totals count P, A and L for each student and show the month's percentage. Anyone under the minimum turns red. Two rows at the bottom count how many were present and away each day.
• The Year sheet shows every month's percentage side by side, the total for the year, and how many days in a row a student below the minimum must attend to get back to it.

For a class bigger than 50, copy the last student row down on the Setup sheet, on each month sheet and on the Year sheet. The formulas follow the row.

Keeping it on paper

The PDF is a blank monthly register for 40 students on two A4 landscape pages, with columns for each day, the month's totals and the percentage. Before the month starts, mark the Sundays and holidays at the top of their columns so nobody writes in them.

Whichever you use, total each month before you start the next one, and have the class teacher and principal sign it. A register that's totalled every month is much easier to defend when a board or an inspector asks to see it.

How to set up the register

1. Fill in Setup. Enter the school, class, section, class teacher, the year the session starts in April, and your minimum percentage.
2. List the students. Type each student's roll number, name and admission number on the Setup sheet. Every month sheet fills in from it.
3. Mark each working day. On the month's sheet, enter P, A, L or H for each student. Leave Sundays empty.
4. Check the month. At the end of the month, look at the % column. Anyone in red is below your minimum.
5. Read the year. The Year sheet adds the months up and shows how many days in a row each student below the minimum needs to attend.

Sources

We read each of these on 21 October 2026. Rules change, so check the latest circular before you rely on a detail.

1. Examination Bye-Laws, Regular Candidates (rules 13 and 14), CBSE.
2. Strict Compliance with Attendance Requirements as per CBSE Examination Bye-Laws for Board Examination Eligibility, CBSE, 9 October 2024.
3. Circular CBSE/COORDI/Shortage-Attend./2025 on attendance and eligibility, CBSE, 4 August 2025.
4. ICSE Regulations, Year 2028 (attendance, Sections D and E), CISCE.
5. ISC Regulations, Year 2028 (attendance, Section F), CISCE.
6. UGC (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of Undergraduate Degree and Postgraduate Degree) Regulations, 2025, clause 8.0, University Grants Commission, 26 March 2025.
7. Academic Regulations 2021, B.E./B.Tech. programmes, clauses 7.1 to 7.3, Anna University.