Following widespread protest by the government schoolteachers across the state, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to suspend its order for digital attendance of teachers till further orders.
An expert committee will be formed to listen to the problems and suggestions of teachers and then submit its report, said principal secretary, basic education, UP, MK Shanmuga Sundaram on Tuesday.
The committee will include education department officials, teachers' union members and educationists etc. It will consider all aspects of education and give its suggestions for improvement. The decision on teachers' digital attendance will be taken on the basis of the committee's report, he added.
Lakhs of teachers and “Shiksha Mitras” (para teachers) in government schools have been opposing it tooth and nail since July 8, the first day of its implementation.
On July 8, only 2 percent of 6.09 lakh teachers recorded their attendance digitally. And on July 10, even fewer teachers did so. The protest grew louder with teachers hitting the streets across the length and breath of the state.
“But now it has been postponed for two months and the concern of teachers will be looked into,” said the principal secretary over telephone.
What happened behind the scenes
A meeting was held between government officials representing education department officers and teachers' organizations under chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh. In the meeting, it was decided to form an expert committee to listen to the problems and suggestions of teachers.
“Earlier in the day, UP Primary School Teachers' Association president Dinesh Chandra Sharma and other teachers' leaders met chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh,” an official said.
Principal secretary, basic education, MK Shanmuga Sundaram, director general, school education, Kanchan Verma, UP Primary School Teachers' Association president Dinesh Chandra Sharma and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
“The teachers' side was presented in the meeting held with the chief secretary. After hearing the side, the chief secretary has decided to postpone the digital presence and form a committee to look into the issues raised by teachers,” Sharma claimed in a social media post in X where he shared photos of his meeting with the chief secretary.
The chief secretary said providing quality education to children is the top priority of the government. He said there is a need for transformational change in the education world.
“Teachers play an important role in providing quality education to students. Without giving good education to children, the PM's goal of developed India in 2047 cannot be achieved,” he said.
On July 12, the government softened its stand when it announced that teachers can use the digitize register app throughout the entire school period.
“Until the process for recording teacher attendance is fully established, the digitize register app is available anytime during the school day,” said director general, school education, UP, Kanchan Verma.
On July 12, the basic education department waived the 8:30 am restriction for uploading attendance, a day after chief minister Yogi Adityanath's intervention to resolve the deadlock between government school teachers and basic education department over digitalisation of attendance.
Teachers were allowed to use the digitize register app throughout the entire school day. The following day, district level field officers visited various schools between 7:30 am and 10:30 am to help and encourage teachers to make use of the Prerna app to upload relevant information related to mid-day meal, students' attendance etc. without exerting pressure on teachers' attendance. It was found that the app required updating.
'Not against system, consider our demands'
Teachers said they were not opposing the online attendance system but wanted some of their demands to be fulfilled. “We are not opposing online attendance. But we have other demands that must be fulfilled before implementation of online attendance system,” said Vipin Bihari, one of the teachers' leader.
“There is no provision for earned leave (EL) or casual leave (CL) for teachers. So, teachers must be given 30 days EL and 14 days half CL. The government can do away with the June leave,” said a teacher.
Vipin Bihari said the general public is under the misconception that “teachers are opposing online attendance”.
He said no teacher in Uttar Pradesh was against online attendance. Teachers only want that before online attendance, infrastructure should be developed in which legitimate practical problems should be resolved. Opposition leaders, BJP MLAs and MLCs wrote letters to the chief minister to roll back digital attendance order.
