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Ludhiana: Biometric attendance system for all govt school staff by month end
In Punjab, all the 19,000 government schools will be covered under the system.
deepa.sharma@hindustantimes.com
To keep a check on latecomers and absentees, the state government has decided to introduce biometric attendance system for all staff in the 1,527 government schools of the district by the end of this month. Of these, as many as 92 schools have already been given biometric machines in 2018 to mark the attendance of teachers.
Sources said the higher authorities have decided that in the first phase, they will cover all primary schools, then middle, high and senior secondary. All staff including principal, lecturers, teachers and Class 4 employees will mark their attendance through the system. Sources said in the absence of school principal or head teacher, a second in-charge will carry out the duty.
Confirming the details, district education officer (elementary) Rajinder Kaur said, “Biometric attendance system will be introduced in all government schools of the district in January. The move will bring regularity and discipline in schools.”
In Punjab, all the 19,000 government schools will be covered under the system.
Training from next week
To familiarise the schools with the system, a team of management information system (MIS) will train the block primary education officers which will further guide the head teachers and other staff from next week.
As per data, there are a total 994 government primary schools in the district, of which five are already using the biometric system for attendance of teachers since 2018.
Ludhiana MIS coordinator (MIS) Vishal said, “All school staff will mark their attendance through the app which will be uploaded on the mobile phones of the principals and second in-charges. User IDs and password will soon be provided to the school heads. They will also be guided on how to use the app. The move will increase transparency in the system.”
What staff say
While Varinder Pathak, a chemistry lecturer, said, “The introduction of biometric attendance will ensure punctuality”, a clerk at a government senior secondary school, requesting anonymity, said, “I have been working at the school having 50 employees for the past ten years. Marking attendance on the register was convenient. Using the app can be difficult for people who are not tech savvy like me.”
No register for attendance
Director public instructions (secondary) Sukhjeetpal Singh has directed all the district education officers to ensure that all staff mark attendance through the biometric system. Government school heads have also been directed not to maintain attendance register from the academic session starting from April 1.
