Sixty schools to get biometric attendance system in phase 1

Coimbatore: Following the state government order to install the biometric attendance system for teachers in government and aided schools, the school education department is in the process of preparing a list of 60 schools in the Coimbatore revenue district for the purpose.
This would be the first phase of the project implementation in the district, which comprises four educational districts. “We have not segregated schools as high schools or higher secondary schools. We are looking for schools which have adequate hardware facilities such as computers and good network connectivity, so that once the biometric systems are installed, they could be put to use in a short notice,” said an official with the district administration.

“Some schools may already have facilities such as smart classrooms, where it would be easier for us to install the system,” the official said.

The department has, as on Tuesday, finalized 40 schools. “We would select the rest of the 20 schools soon and would send the final list to the directorate of school education,” the official said.

On November 15, when officials of the directorate had held a meeting with officials of the district chief education office through videoconferencing, the district officials asked for biometric systems for 60 schools.

The state recently said in an order that a total of 7,728 government and government-aided schools would get the biometric attendance system for teachers. Of these, 3,688 are high schools and 4,040 are higher secondary schools. Minister of school education K A Sengottaiyan had said the project would be implemented in government schools across the state at a cost of Rs 9 crore.