Teachers Asked to Take Selfies to Mark Attendance in UP Government Schools
Barabanki district recently came up with a tech solution to deal with the problem of school teachers ‘ghosting’ their students. From the month of May, all teachers of all government schools in Barabanki and other districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh were asked to click their selfies to mark their daily attendance.
As per government orders, the teachers were instructed to enter their classrooms before 8 AM. The photos were then to be uploaded on the web page of the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA). Teachers, who’d fail to upload their selfies before the given time, would get their day’s salary deducted. After the implementation of this rule, more than 700 teachers lost their day’s salary.
This step was taken by the government to improve the educational standards of government schools in UP. As per a senior official, “It has been a practice in Uttar Pradesh under which teachers 'sub-let' their jobs to under-qualified persons who not only mark their attendance but also teach students. This is done in connivance with principals who also get a share of the money.”
Additionally, teachers who were seen spending time on social media during school hours also received a cut in their salaries. The chief minister was looking for firm step to ameliorate the situation of dull attitude of teachers in the government school, thus, this order was released, and immediately executed.
As per the teachers of these schools, the rule was unfair to them. Even though many teachers ‘sub-let ‘their jobs to others, but there are also honest, hardworking and sincere teachers, who often get caught up in public transport, and get late. In rural areas, there is also slow internet connectivity, thus, uploading selfies takes time, even though teachers reach their classes on time.
“I lost a day's salary because my tempo got stuck in a jam at the railway crossing," a primary school teacher complained in Barabanki district.
Even though Basic Shiksha Adhikari V.P Singh stated that the rules were strict and were to be implemented immediately, and they did, the order was recently withdrawn by the government.
The order, implemented in the month of May, was taken down after three months, followed by complaints by teachers and other staff members of the government schools.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Basic Education Anupama Jaiswal spoke to the Legislative Council during the Zero Hour. He said, “The order pertaining to cutting the day's salary of teachers of government primary schools for not sending their selfie during the morning assembly has been withdrawn."
As per the teachers of these schools, the order passed seemed more like a punishment than encouragement. The government must listen to the villagers, but also, not insult the teachers.
Anupama announced that government’s intention was never to humiliate teachers but improve the teaching standards of these government schools. The government was only trying at upon the complaints of the villagers.
The rule is finally taken down as the teachers of these schools can take a breather from the ‘selfie’ solution and go back to their normal teaching ways, until another solution to the problem of teachers who ‘ghost’ often, is provided by the government.
