The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to suspend the digital attendance system for two months in view of widespread protests by teachers of government schools across the state.
An expert committee would be constituted and it would address the teachers' concerns during this period of suspension, Principal Secretary Basic Education, M.K. Shanmugha Sundaram announced on Tuesday.
Since its inception on July 8, the digital attendance system has faced strong opposition from lakhs of teachers and 'Shiksha Mitras' (para teachers) in government schools. On the first day, a mere 2 percent of the 6.09 lakh teachers logged their attendance digitally, and the numbers dwindled further by July 10, escalating protests as teachers took to the streets throughout the state.
"But now it has been postponed for two months and the concerns of teachers will be looked into," the Principal Secretary stated via phone.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of the Primary School Teachers' Association, along with other teachers' leaders, met with Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh.
"In the meeting with the Chief Secretary, we presented the teachers' stance. After considering our position, the Chief Secretary has decided to defer the digital attendance system and form a committee to examine the issues raised by the teachers," Sharma mentioned in a post on X, sharing photos of the meeting.
On July 12, the government showed leniency by announcing that teachers could use the digitized register app throughout the school day.
"Until the teacher attendance recording process is fully operational, the digitized register app is available anytime during school hours," stated Kanchan Verma, Director General of School Education.
Following the intervention of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to resolve the deadlock between the Basic Education Department and government school teachers over the digitization of attendance, the Basic Education Department lifted the 8:30 a.m. restriction for uploading attendance on July 12.
The next day, district-level field officers visited various schools between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to assist and encourage teachers to use the Prerna app for uploading information related to mid-day meals and student attendance, without pressuring them for their attendance. It was noted that the app needed updates.
Teachers have clarified that they are not opposed to the online attendance system but have other demands that need to be addressed first.
"We do not oppose online attendance. However, there are other demands that must be met before implementing the online attendance system," stated Vipin Kumar Bihari, a teacher leader.
"There is no provision for earned leave (EL) or casual leave (CL) for teachers. Therefore, teachers should be granted 30 days of EL and 14 days of half CL. The government can eliminate the June leave," another teacher added.
Bihari emphasized that the public is under the false impression that "teachers are opposing online attendance." He explained that no teacher in Uttar Pradesh is against online attendance but that necessary infrastructure must be developed to address practical issues.
Opposition leaders, along with BJP MLAs and MLCs, have also urged the Chief Minister to retract the digital attendance system.
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