Uttar Pradesh Halts Digital Attendance for Teachers Amid Protests

The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended its digital attendance order for teachers following protests from several teachers' organizations and support from opposition parties. An expert committee has been formed to address the teachers' concerns and provide recommendations for educational improvements. The attendance system's implementation is paused until further notice.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to suspend its order for digital attendance of teachers till further orders and constituted a committee to submit its report on the issue.

Various teachers' organisations have been protesting against the decision and the opposition parties, including the BSP and Samajwadi Party, supported them.

''The decision to implement digital attendance of teachers has been suspended till further orders. It has been decided to form an expert committee to listen to the problems and suggestions of the teachers and submit its report,'' an official statement issued here said.

This committee will include the education department officials, teachers' union members and educationists, and will consider all aspects of education and give its suggestions for improvement. Digital attendance will be kept suspended till further orders. Any further decision will be taken on the basis of the committee's report, it said.

The decision was taken after a meeting of Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh with education department officials and teachers' organisations.

Addressing the meeting, Singh said providing quality education to children is the government's top priority.

''There is a need for transformational change in the field of education. Teachers play an important role in providing quality education to students. Without providing good education to children, the prime minister's goal of a developed India by 2047 cannot be achieved,'' he said.

In a statement issued in June, the Yogi Adityanath government announced plans to digitise all 12 types of registers in schools across the state along with implementing a digital attendance system for both teachers and students.

Both students and teachers will be required to mark their attendance using a face recognition system on tablets, it had said. This process was set to be implemented statewide starting July 15, it said.

(With inputs from agencies.)