'Why only us?': Reasons UP govt teachers are against new online attendance

Thousands of government primary school teachers in Uttar Pradesh are protesting against a decision to implement a digital attendance system for them. The street agitation is also raging on social media, with the hashtag #boycottonlineattendance trending on microblogging platform X. The hashtag has over half a million posts, and counting.

Under the new system introduced by the primary education department recently, teachers are to mandatorily mark attendance, including their location, 15 minutes prior to their classes starting. The rules require teachers to reach their schools by 7:30 am and mark attendance between 7:45 am and 8 am, before the classes begin.

UP has some 609,000 government primary teachers. Their agitation has so far not affected classes.

The protesting teachers argue that rules like this should apply to all government departments in the state. They are also citing poor internet connectivity in villages as a hindrance in marking attendance online, besides problems with reaching school on time during the rainy season due to waterlogging and traffic jams.

Some of the demands raised by the teachers are: online attendance be relaxed in times of adverse weather or when teachers have to participate in departmental events, 30 days of earned leave in a year, like state employees, and half-day leave and compensatory leave facility.

The basic education department has attempted to pacify the teachers, assuring that they could mark their attendance up to 30 minutes late by giving the reason for delay. This, however, has failed to end the protest.

“We are implementing such digital initiatives to curb absenteeism and neglect of duty. Ensuring teachers are present and accountable will help improve the overall educational environment and learning outcomes for students,” said a senior official. “We are also trying to include some relaxations in the online attendance system.”

Both the Samajwadi Party and Congress have supported the demands of teachers and promised to raise these in the legislative assembly. With the government unwilling to retract its new attendance policy, the issue looks set to fester and gain political colour.

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