Concerned about the attendance app are the teachers in Andhra Pradesh.
In schools in Andhra Pradesh, a face recognition app like attendance system has been used to avoid teachers absenteeism. Two times per day, the attendance of teachers is noted. The location of the instructor is then reported, along with its longitude and latitude, to administrative officials via SMS alerts. This policy change aims to raise educational standards and enhance student learning, including their evaluation of formative learning.
This change has been lauded as a revolutionary one that will help kids develop a variety of skills and expose them to situations that will strengthen their capacity for problem-solving and critical thought. It is believed that for pupils to develop these skills, teachers’ simple presence in a classroom is more important than their absence. There’s nothing novel about this. Nearly 40 years ago, teacher absenteeism was identified as a systemic problem, and shortly after that, policymakers set an objective to reduce it. Maintaining teachers in their current positions has turned into a goal in and of itself, and the procedures created to make this happen have an inspectorial rather than a reformatory nature. The teachers’ unions have criticised the programme, even if the actors in the policy have claimed a connection between the app-controlled attendance system for teachers and the development of intellectual skills by children.
An app cannot fix the problems caused by teacher absenteeism. They demand a humane comprehension of teachers as professionals, their struggles, and their requirements. It has been tried multiple times to use a surveillance system to manage the teacher. The last three decades’ educational strategies have included community oversight, panchayat inspections, and sporadic school inspection visits. These surveillance systems, like the app-based attendance monitoring system, overlooked the fact that instruction is, at its core, a social engagement.
It involves collaborating between students and teachers. The fact that the objectives are generally the same from project to project and plan to plan seems to be wearing on the schools.
Several teacher associations have spoken out against the mobile application that uses facial recognition to track attendance. The professors claimed that they were transferred to different schools as part of rationalisation efforts, although their applications still indicate that they are employed in outdated institutions.
The government’s directive to have the app installed on teachers’ personal mobile phones was opposed by the Federation of AP Teachers Organizations (FAPTO), AP Teachers Federation (APTF), State Teachers Union (STU), and other teachers’ groups. “Government instructors are being retaliated against by this government for calling out their unethical behaviour. The administration is making an effort to disturb us since we sought our rights. For a very long time, teachers have been using a biometric device to track attendance. Government should provide a convincing justification for introducing this app. Why should teachers enter attendance into mobile apps when all other departments, including secretariat staff, use biometric devices? “APTF President G. Hrudaya Raju said.
A few associations required attendees to use their phones or tablets to record their attendance. When tabs were distributed, they urged the government to delay the app-based attendance system.
The offline option for recording attendance has been activated, according to Suresh Kumar, commissioner of the School Education Department, and the app will immediately submit attendance data to the server once it connects to the internet. Concerns concerning the safety and security of student data were asked to be put to rest by the teachers.
Of course a teacher needs to be there, but what’s more crucial is that he or she exhibits curiosity and fosters a spirit of inquiry in the students. There is a lot of information in the NCF-2005, NCFTE (2009), and National Commission on Teachers’ Reports (1983–1985) that is helpful for this. All three policy publications made the case for treating teachers like professionals rather than as imprisoned workers whose whereabouts must be continually observed. Where Have All the Teachers Gone? was a question posed by UNESCO two decades ago to describe the policymakers’ attitude towards teachers as a silent crisis. At a cost of significant expenditure, the facial recognition app can wind up spotlighting the same crisis.
