Bhubaneswar, Aug. 26: The state government has decided to introduce biometric attendance system in schools in tribal areas to check truancy among teachers there.

The move has been initiated by the state scheduled castes and scheduled tribes development department.

“The system will be put in place to allow online attendance monitoring among students, teachers and the administrative staff of every school in tribal areas. This will replace manual records and be considered as the primary mode of attendance recording,” said a senior officer of the department.He added that the biometric system would enable the government to keep a centralised database of the teaching and non-teaching staff as well as students enrolled in various schools in an organised manner.

At present, about 2.5 lakh students are studying in some 1,600 tribal schools managed by the department.The attendance will be recorded twice a day — first time in the early afternoon, between 11 and 12, and the second during evening hours, between 6 and 7.

“This will not only help keep a track of the teachers’ attendance, but will also give us the correct data of students being covered under the mid-day meal scheme,” the officer said. The authorities in the district headquarters will regularly monitor the attendance. The biometric attendance system is also expected to help in the proper implementation of other incentive schemes such as distribution of textbooks and uniforms.

In the first phase, the biometric system will be installed in 250 schools in three districts — 100 in Rayagada, 100 in Kandhamal and 50 in Malkangiri. Besides the schools, the system would also be used in residential tribal institutions and tribal hostels in these three districts.

“After the first phase, we will review the success of the project and extend it to tribal schools in other parts of the state,” said the officer. Tenders for the project have already been floated and are now in the processing stage.