The Uttar Pradesh government has put on hold the mandatory digital attendance of teachers and students after protests against the move erupted across the state.
This decision came after a meeting between the chief secretary, Manoj Kumar Singh and representatives of teachers' bodies. A committee will go into the modalities of digitalisation and submit its report in two months.
Since July 8, when the announcement to implement the attendance system was made, teachers have been against it demanding that such a system be first implemented at all government levels. They have also been insisting that their other long pending demands, such as being recognised as government employees, be fulfilled before imposing the attendance system.
Dinesh Chandra Sharma, the president of the UP Primary Teachers Association said, “We are happy that the government has accommodated our worries. Teachers have a respected position in society and this move would only have shamed them”.
Though the system was to be only applicable at the basic education level for now, other teacher bodies too intended to protest it if it was made mandatory for them.
Rajendra Prasad Mishra, the state vice president and spokesperson of the Uttar Pradesh Madhamik Shikshak Sangh (secondary teachers association)- a body which has a membership of 52,000 teachers from government-aided secondary schools said, “Errant teachers would account for just one per cent of the total. If the administration carries out proper monitoring of schools, these teachers can be identified and isolated. It is because officers of the education department do not perform their duties that teachers are being targeted”.
This is not the first time that teachers in government and government-aided schools have protested a digital attendance system.
Four years ago, the state government introduced an app by the name of PRERNA. Teachers were required to take selfies three times during school hours with the app to mark their presence on the premises. The app has other uses, but the storm of protests was against this specific function. The most voiced concern was that there was no saying how the selfies- particularly of female teachers, would be used.
The app, which still has very poor ratings on the Play Store, had operational problems too. For one, it required far better internet connectivity than what was available at schools, especially rural ones. Poor connectivity also meant it was often unable to pick up GPS coordinates and thus the aim of identifying the school premises was defeated. It would sometimes duplicate data and at others lose it. There were also concerns about it collecting data- such as that of calls made and received, and Internet search history- that should not be the government’s concern or interest.
Political support for the teachers had come noticeably from Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, who took to his social media to demand that an online system of attendance should first be implemented in administrative offices. “No teacher wants to be late’, Yadav wrote and gave examples beyond the teachers' control- such as an inability to get public transport or big distances between their homes and schools.
Some BJP members too had voiced their apprehension about the new system.
With byelections due in the state, the ruling party would have been unwilling to risk any opposition or anger towards it.
