Teachers in East Jaintia Hills will receive training on mobile phone attendance apps and allay fears regarding their use.
Earlier this month, leaders of teachers’ associations from the SSA, government, non-government and deficit schools wrote to the authorities against the use of the app, Ubiattendance.
The teachers felt it wrong that the teachers’ personal details have to be shared with the app’s creators, Ubitech Solutions, without proper consent and that this has “distracted and frightened” the educators. Another app, “GPS Map Camera” has also reportedly been forced on the teachers.
Most affected teachers of the district do not have access to smartphones that are required to host and use the app and poor mobile internet connectivity, especially in remote areas.
Furthermore, there has been “no consultation with stakeholders in education within the jurisdiction of East Jaintia Hills before implementation of the app and this has put the teachers in a panic state about what to do and what not to do.” They also questioned why, with the roll-out of a similar app called MEG-TIMS statewide, East Jaintia Hills had to have its own specific apps.
In an order dated June 21 but shared with the media today, the EJH Deputy Commissioner doubled down on the use of the app, maintaining that “all teachers” who receive remuneration from the Meghalaya or central governments must use the app to track their attendance from July 1.
Use of the tracker has been necessitated due to several complaints of teacher absenteeism and use of substitute teachers and these complaints have been borne out during school inspections, the DC, A Baranwal, said. “Negligence towards maintaining punctuality and regularity of attendance by teachers is a violation of Section 24 of the Right to Education Act 2009 and hence undermines the fundamental right of the children guaranteed to them by the Constitution of India,” he added.
Ubiattendance uses geo-location and facial recognition software to ensure that teachers punch in and punch out at their school location. All cases of unauthorised absence/severe undertime are to be dealt with as per the disciplinary rules of the Education Department.
Training on the use of the app will be conducted on June 26-28.
Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) were attached to Baranwal’s order. They cover what happens to teachers who forget to punch in or out, have to leave school urgently, becomes ill, data security, lack of smartphones, poor internet connectivity, variations in facial appearance, etc.
Teachers have continued to oppose the use of the app. The Khliehriat unit of the Jaintia Hills Lower Primary School Teachers Association and the EJH unit of the Meghalaya SSA School Association today said that they had been told by Education Minister Rakkam Sangma, when they met him on Friday, that the DC had order the use of the app without the consent of the Education Department.
“The minister told us that he has directed the Director of School Education and Literacy to seek clarification from the DC and to send a report on whose permission did the DC implement the attendance App in the district,” MSSASA’s Aristotle C Rymbai said today.
He also said that the dates for the training of teachers on the use of the app are nonsensical as schools are currently undergoing their half-yearly exams.
The two associations are adamant that the app not be made mandatory and have urged all teachers in the district not to take part in the training sessions.
“If the DC continues to enforce the order, we will take strong steps after the half-yearly examinations and agitate and protest in front of the DC’s office to ensure that such an order is immediately done away with,” Rymbai added.
