• Dept says 1,525 employees didn’t mark attendance even once
• Only 137 of 2,002 institutions hit 80%+ attendance
• 27 schools log zero entries; 1,071 below 50%
Kohima, July 19 (MExN): The Department of School Education (DoSE), Nagaland, has reported that 1,525 teachers and employees across the state have not marked their attendance even once between February 1 and June 30, 2025, under the newly mandated SMILE attendance system. The Department has flagged the issue as a matter of concern, warning of disciplinary action against defaulting employees and institutions.
Out of a total of 2,002 schools and educational establishments as on July 1, only 132 schools and 5 establishments recorded attendance above 80% during the five-month period, according to official data released by the Department. In contrast, 27 schools did not record any attendance at all, while 1,071 schools and establishments recorded attendance below 50%. The Department also revealed that “many employees have attempted to mark their attendance using methods that fall under ‘suspicious’ category.”
Taking note of these discrepancies, the Department has issued a directive stating that attendance is being “closely monitored” and urged all teachers and staff “to diligently use the SMILE app.” It warned that “action will be initiated against defaulting employees and schools.” Further, heads of institutions have been instructed to “be more vigilant to ensure regular usage.”
The findings were shared in an official notification detailing the progress and enforcement of the Smart Attendance Management & Informative Leaves (SMILE) system, also known as the Teacher Attendance Monitoring System (TAMS), a flagship initiative of the Department under the NECTAR project, supported by the World Bank.
The SMILE app, which went live on February 1, 2025, makes it mandatory for all School Education Department employees to register daily attendance using the app. It leverages facial authentication and geo-fencing technology to ensure that employees can only mark attendance within the physical boundaries of their designated schools or offices.
In a move to facilitate adoption, the Department has provided tablet devices to all government schools and administrative education offices at the Block, Sub-Division, and District Headquarters levels. These tablets act as dedicated kiosks for recording attendance. Additionally, the app is available on Android and iOS smartphones, expanding access beyond institutional devices.
To address connectivity challenges, particularly in remote or network-deficient areas, the SMILE app includes an offline attendance feature. “The app can store offline data for up to 30 days which gets synchronised automatically upon network availability,” the Department informed. It also includes an attendance regularisation feature to allow employees to request corrections in case of missed entries due to “technical reasons or official duties.”
However, the Department acknowledged that during the initial rollout phase, users faced multiple technical issues. “Users experienced several issues including poor application performance, high dependence on internet connectivity and long loading time due to heavy server traffic,” the notification stated. As a result, employees often had to make multiple attempts to mark attendance, with a low success rate.
Since February, the SMILE app’s development team has been working to resolve these issues. “The SMILE app development team has been actively addressing the issues by continually optimising the application to enhance user experience and reliability,” the Department said, adding that the application has undergone “significant improvements in recent months.” However, it cautioned that “as with any IT-enabled system, the SMILE app may occasionally face technical glitches which should not discourage its usage.”
In light of continued non-compliance, the Department reiterated that monitoring would be intensified and action taken where necessary. It also instructed that in areas without internet access, “the SMILE app Coordinator must take the kiosk tablet to a networked area every 30 days” to ensure that attendance data is synchronised.
For troubleshooting and support, users may contact the Department’s helpline numbers at 8974102488 and 6909644519, the notification added.
