Salaries of govt school teachers’ linked with biometric attendance – Times of India

Lucknow: In a move aimed at ensuring teachers’ presence in government schools, the secondary education department has linked the attendance (of teaching and non-teaching employees) as recorded by the biometric scanners with their salary payment. Biometric systems use biological traits such as fingerprints, iris patterns, hand geometry and others for identification.
According to the directives issued by departmental head Aradhana Shukla, the technology would digitise information about teachers and employees such as their time of entry and exit from the school. Under the 100 days of the Yogi 2.0, the secondary education department had decided to install biometric scanners in all 2,675 government schools in the state.
Officials said the decision was taken to check the increasing absenteeism among teachers of government schools, especially in rural areas. The system would also ensure punctuality, as it would also record the time.
Stressing on strict implementation of the biometric attendance, Shukla asked the district inspector of schools and joint directors for continuous monitoring in their respective districts and divisions. School principals have also been instructed to apprise the DIOS about the non-functional biometric machines.
The DIOS should send a report of teachers every fortnight to the joint directors. Shukla in her letter to the secondary education director and finance officer stated that education of students is the topmost priority of the government. And for a good education system, it is important that teachers reach school on time.
Earlier, the governor Anandiben Patel had made biometric attendance compulsory for state universities.