Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court in Jabalpur on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by teachers against the mandatory e-attendance system, upholding the state’s policy. The court said there was no need to interfere in a system thatensured transparency.
This ruling confirms that the e-attendance system will remain in force for government school teachers in Madhya Pradesh. The ruling upholds the state’s e-attendance policy, meaning all government teachers will be required to usethe system to mark their attendance.
However, a petition of 27 aggrieved educators is still pending in the HC, challenging themandatory implementation of the ‘Hamare Shikshak’ (Our Teachers)app for electronicattendance marking.
The next hearing is on November 7.
The teachers said that many of them did not have high-quality smartphones. The monthlycost of data packs and keeping mobile batteries charged were also challenges. Many schools faced network connectivity issues. The app also experienced server errors and face verification issues.
The petitioners alleged that higher officials were forcing teachers to use the e-attendance appby threatening to withhold their salaries.
They have demanded that attendance berecorded using biometric machines or the signature system in the employee register bemaintained as before.
The high court had asked the petitioner teachers to clarify whether they had actuallyattempted to mark attendance using the app. The government had been directed to submitdata on schools where the e-attendance system was already in place, advocate Anshuman Singh said.
