GPS to track teachers

Guwahati, Oct. 6: The Assam government has decided to introduce GPS-based mobile phone tracking system to check attendance of schoolteachers who do not come to work on time and miss classes.

This new attendance system to bring truant teachers into line will come into force from next year, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters here this afternoon. He said the education department in association with a reputed mobile service provider would initially cover 57,000 teachers of lower and upper primary schools.

"Every teacher's mobile phone will be equipped with GPS. There will be a central monitoring cell in the education department's office at Kahilipara here. Teachers will have to register their attendance by sending an SMS writing "yes" or "no" to the central monitoring cell. It will be a highly advanced technical system and officials sitting at the monitoring cell will be able to track teachers' locations through GPS once they send their attendance SMS. Teachers who do not attend classes and loiter outside the schools will be caught by such system," he said.

Once this attendance system starts working for lower and upper primary schools, the government will bring high and higher secondary schools under it, Sarma said, adding that the government has decided to take stern action against truant teachers.

Sarma claimed that the biometric system of attendance introduced for college teachers during his erstwhile regime as education minister in the Congress government had streamlined the functioning of many colleges.

The state government will also launch a comprehensive evaluation system of lower and upper primary schools next year. A team of officials, experts and ministers will visit schools and evaluate their performance in various spheres, including academics, administration, involvement in community service and overall mental development of the students. On the basis of the evaluation, schools will be awarded grades like A, B, C. Schools which get a low grade will be brought under a monitoring system to improve their performance. "The evaluation system will do away with many ills currently afflicting schools," he said.

The minister spoke about the carrot and stick policy aimed at improving the performance of schools while speaking to reporters during a function held to launch the system of depositing a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000 directly to the bank accounts of cook-cum-helpers under the midday meal scheme of Assam Sarba Siksha Abhiyan.

He said the staff had been complaining about not getting their honorarium in time and added that there were various reasons for the delay.

"Now the amount will be deposited in the bank accounts of cook-cum-helpers within the first three days of every month," he said.

RULES FOR TUTORS

• Teachers coming late to school will face pay cuts
• Assessment forms will be given to teachers to evaluate their performance
• Such forms will be assessed by experts
• Entry of teachers to the state secretariat and education department offices will be restricted
• Curbs will rein in truant teachers