Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 13
In apparently a first, Government High School (GHS), Diphupar under Dimapur district now stands ahead from other government educational institutions by enabling Aadhaar enabled biometric system to monitor attendance of its employees.
According to a press statement issued by R Nymshio Lotha, Headmaster GHS, Diphupar, the biometric attendance was made mandatory for all the staff in the school with the objective of eliminating lapses in the attendance system and to ensure proper transparency and accountability among the teaching and non-teaching staffs.
Headmaster Lotha said this new system will ensure employees punctuality, reduce time theft, eliminate proxy attendance, track employees work hour and enhance record efficiency.
Since the introduction of this technology, the 63 employees, which include teaching and non teaching staffs, now register their attendance through biometric system twice in a day, Lotha informed while talking to The Morung Express.
In Nagaland, the biometric attendance system was formally launched at the Nagaland Secretariat by Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar in the month of February 2016 during a meeting of Administrative Heads of Departments (AHoDs) and Heads of Departments (HoDs) at the Secretariat conference hall, Kohima.
However, the introduction of the biometric system in other Nagaland Government departments, if there is any, has been unheard until now.
“The introduction of this biometric system has been very effective. We are witnessing more attendance from our staff,” Diphupar GHS Headmaster testified of the success of this new system.
Buoyed by the positive response, the Headmaster espoused confidence that this system of recording attendance will definitively improve the work culture among the government employees in the length and breadth of Nagaland- “particularly in the government educational institutions in the villages and rural areas.”
Lotha also opined that the biometric system of attendance ought to be introduced in the medical department, keeping in mind the laxity of staff in the health centres in the far-flung areas.
“I sincerely hope that this system will improve the productivity and enhance the accountability towards our responsibilities. We are also contributing towards digital India and e-governance in our capacity,” the Headmaster said.
Biometric attendance system is considered as a foolproof technology to ensure the accuracy of attendance and is useful to the ones who deal with large number of employees.
It uses automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Among the features measured are face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice.
The Economic Survey 2016-17 identified biometric attendance system as a reliable option to address teacher absenteeism. According to the UNESCO- EFA (Education for All) Monitoring Report for 2014, teacher absenteeism in India varies between 15 per cent and 42 per cent.
On the need for introducing the biometric system in Nagaland, a Weekly Poll conducted by The Morung Express, published on February 8, 2016 saw an overwhelming numbers of respondents (82%) calling for introducing the system citing among other things, to check absenteeism, proxy appointment, to respond positively to the need of the common people.
Many respondents also expressed skepticism that it will be a waste of resources as the system can be manipulated if the government is not resolute and firm in its implementation.
