E-Paper
Digital attendance: U.P. teachers’ body hails govt decision
Uttar Pradesh Primary Teachers’ Association praises suspension of digital attendance for teachers by state government, committee to address teachers’ demands formed.
The Uttar Pradesh Primary Teachers’ Association has hailed the state government’s decision to suspend digital attendance of teachers till further orders. “A committee will consider the long list of teachers’ demands,” an official said after a delegation of Uttar Pradesh Primary Teachers’ Association apprised the officials of teachers’ problems.
In the talks, the association’s state president Dinesh Chandra Sharma informed chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh that digital attendance system is not there for officers and other staff of the basic education department.
He also said the basic education department staff are getting 31 earned leave, second Saturday leave, semi-casual leave, posting at the nearest workplace to their residences and the facility of government vehicle.
On the other hand, Sharma said, the teachers working in schools located on inaccessible routes and who can’t afford a private vehicle alone come to school in groups in a private vehicle because no vehicle has been provided to them by the government.
“Due to this, it is natural for the teachers who are posted in different schools to reach their respective places of posting at different time,” he added.
“A teacher reaches their school by travelling either in a personal vehicle or on foot through difficult routes like river, water logging, footpath, railway crossing, etc. In such a situation, it is not justified to make it compulsory for teachers to mark digital attendance without knowing the teachers’ side,” Sharma said.
During the meeting, an 18-point demand letter was also handed over to the chief secretary. The demands include providing cashless medical facility to teachers like state employees.
The chief secretary informed the delegation that the state government will suspend the digital attendance of teachers and form a committee that will submit its report on the problems of teachers in two months on the basis of which the government will resolve their problems.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X wrote, “The sooner teachers and parents of children understand that the BJP government is against teachers and education and that because of BJP the future of the children is dark, the sooner the ground will be prepared for change. BJP should not force teachers and employees to start such a protest that brings every sector to a standstill. BJP analyses its defeat but always adopts an indifferent attitude towards the problems of teachers and employees. The BJP government is a heartless government. We don’t want a government that doesn’t have compassion.”
*Teachers should be allowed 31 earned leave, second Saturday leave, semi-casual leave, compensatory leave and study leave like state employees.
*In case of digital attendance, if a teacher is late by an hour after the scheduled time in case of an emergency, they should not be considered absent in total 5 working days in a month.
*In case of adverse weather or participation in departmental events, the district basic education officer should be authorised to grant exemption from online attendance.
*In case of digitization of registers, if a teacher does the work of data entry, the teaching work will be disrupted. Therefore, computer operators should be appointed in schools.
*Before implementing digital attendance for teachers, it should be implemented in all the offices of the basic education department, including the office of director general, school education, and its merits and demerits should be studied.
