Lucknow: Teachers and staff members at state government-run primary and upper primary schools, as well as Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) across Uttar Pradesh, have protested the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government’s implementation of the digital attendance system.
Their concerns are varied — the portal allowing only a 15-minute window for marking attendance digitally, not considering the difficulties of reaching schools in rural areas, and the rule applying only to teachers rather than all government employees, among others.
And though they are not entirely against the system, teachers have objected to its introduction without a trial period or taking into account the issues they face, and while their other pressing demands — such as for earned leaves and holidays on the second Saturday of each month — remain unmet.
They have refused to mark digital attendance until their demands are met and have been wearing black bands in protest since 8 July, the day the order was implemented.
In memorandums submitted to the respective district magistrates, one of the protesting organisations, the Uttar Pradeshiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, has drawn the chief minister’s attention to 10 pending demands. These include the provision of 15 casual leaves (CLs) and 30 earned leaves (ELs), a cashless treatment facility without a premium, timely transfers and promotions, removal of pay anomalies, exemption from non-teaching work, and the appointment of instructors and fourth-class employees where needed in basic education department schools.
“Rather than addressing the existing concerns of the teacher fraternity, the government has gone ahead and implemented the digital attendance system. It should stop overburdening teachers and first implement the move in the UP secretariat and other government offices,” said Vinod Nagar, president of the Gautam Buddha Nagar chapter of the UP Prathmik Shikshak Sangh.
On Monday, Director General (School Education) Kanchan Verma, along with other officials, met with representatives of protesting organisations and stated that the government was ready to “relax” the timings for marking digital attendance by half an hour.
This, however, had little effect on protesters.
“The DG met with the protesting organisations in two shifts today. We have been told verbally that the government will relax the timings for marking digital attendance but no official order has been issued yet. Our protest will continue until our demands are met. We want the provision of earned leave, holidays on every second Saturday, and half-CLs like other education department employees receive. We have also demanded that if a teacher is late for three days, one of our CLs should be adjusted. This is a way to dilute the situation,” Ashutosh Kumar, Barabanki district president of United Teachers Association (UTA), told ThePrint.
He added that their other demands include the provision of a compensatory holiday if teachers work Sundays. “Earlier, there was a provision of compensatory leave if teachers worked on holidays or Sundays. The former DG had cancelled that facility. Apart from 14 CLs, we don’t have leave. We are asking for provision of half-day leave and 30 ELs,” he said.
This meeting follows the protests gaining momentum after officials from the state’s basic education department in a few districts stopped the release of salaries of protesting teachers.
On Tuesday, the UP government said in a statement that a meeting was held with teachers’ organisations and education department officials, chaired by the chief secretary. It was decided that an expert committee will be formed to gather teachers’ concerns and suggestions. The committee will review all aspects of education and present its findings in a report.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has repeatedly raised the issue, with at least two of its MPs writing to CM Yogi Adityanath to oppose the move. Now, UP BJP MLC Devendra Pratap Singh has also joined the list of politicians calling for its ban.
ThePrint reached DG (school education) Kanchan Verma via phone calls and messages. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
The order at the root of the protests
In a direction to all the basic shiksha adhikaris (BSAs) of all districts across UP, DG (school education) Kanchan Verma had said that all teachers and staffers will enter the time of their entry and exit from schools in a digital attendance register, a digital version of the attendance registers in government schools in which the teachers mark their daily attendance.
“The department has provided 2,09,863 tablets for teachers’ use in government primary and composite schools while it is in process of providing tablets for the use of teachers in government junior high schools,” said an order dated 18 June, which ThePrint has accessed.
On 5 July, Verma issued another order, which ThePrint has seen, to all BSAs mandating that starting 8 July, all teachers and staff members working in government-run primary (up to class 5), upper primary (classes 5 to 8), and KGB vidyalayas schools must enter their entry and exit details in the digital attendance register.
Teachers’ attendance in UP government schools has been a controversial subject and allegations of absentism have been levelled against teachers in the past. On 11 March, 2023, former DG (school education) Vijay Kiran Anand had reportedly said that task forces constituted to check presence of teachers in government schools from Class 1 to 8 found that out of the total 3,31,113 schools that were inspected over a period of three months, 16,706 teachers were found absent during inspection.
The order for digital attendance, though, was met with strong resistance from teachers and other staff, including shiksha mitras and instructors working in schools under the Basic Shiksha Parishad. They have been wearing black bands since the first day of the order’s implementation to mark their protest, while carrying out their teaching responsibilities.
Various protesting organisations, including the UP Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, Junior High School Shikshak Sangh, and United Teachers Association (UTA), have united under the Sanyukt Sangharsh Morcha. This coalition observed a state-wide protest on 15 July.
In memorandums submitted by the district units of the UP Prathmik Shikshak Sangh to their respective DMs, teachers have raised several demands. They object to the basic education department implementing digital attendance solely for teachers, unlike the employees of the UP secretariat, state government, and intermediate and higher education departments, who use different systems, including biometric attendance.
Accusing the government of “double standards”, the memorandum states that the government has issued impractical directives to record attendance in digital registers and use online face recognition, which the Supreme Court has deemed a violation of privacy.
Earlier this month, BSAs in at least two districts — Barabanki and Unnao — reportedly ordered the withholding of salaries for protesting teachers who refused to mark their attendance digitally. In Barabanki, BSA Santosh Pandey withheld three days’ salaries for these teachers on 11 July, but withdrew the order following protests from teachers. In Unnao, BSA Sangeeta Singh withheld one day’s salary for teachers.
According to Barabanki UTA district president Ashutosh Kumar, the decision by the Barabanki and Unnao BSAs was taken under pressure from seniors.
Barabanki BSA Santosh Pandey told ThePrint that the department will now engage in dialogue with the teachers.
Speaking to ThePrint, Ashutosh Kumar said that there are about 5.5 lakh teachers, shiksha mitras and instructors employed across the government schools under the Basic Shiksha Parishad in the state, all of whom are opposed to digital attendance.
“Under the new system, if a teacher gets late by a few minutes, they lose an entire day’s salary. If we have to leave school a little early due to emergency situations, like deaths, injuries to family members, we lose a full day’s salary. If you are unwell and want to leave a few minutes early, you can’t. The portal’s window opens only between 7.45 am to 8.00 am and then 2.15 pm to 2.30 pm,” he said.
“Moreover, problems can arise in the clicking of pictures and uploading them on the portal. The move has been implemented without any trial,” he said.
Kumar has also demanded that the system be implemented in the UP secretariat and other government offices first.
Sunil Kumar, president of the Rashtriya Shaikshik Sangh told ThePrint that 70 percent of primary schools run by the basic education department fall in rural areas.
“Public transport is poor and reaching several of these schools is itself a challenge given the difficult terrains. We are suggesting that the department should issue show cause notices to regular offenders and deduct CLs in case someone comes late more than twice rather than deducting salary right away,” he said.
‘UP govt’s image has become that of anti-teacher’
The Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) has criticised the Yogi government over this issue. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that such rules could lead to unnecessary stress for teachers. Additionally, SP MPs S.P. Singh and Utkarsh Verma from Pratapgarh and Lakhimpur Kheri, respectively, have written letters to the CM expressing their concerns.
BJP MLC Devendra Pratap Singh, representing the Gorakhpur-Faizabad graduate seat, has also written to CM Yogi, urging him to withdraw the order mandating digital attendance in government primary, upper primary, and KGB vidyalayas.
In his letter dated 15 July, which ThePrint has accessed, Singh wrote, “The law and order and governance model followed by you used to be appreciated everywhere and used to be a subject of discussion even outside the boundary of state and the country. Suddenly, what has happened that the public of the state has got upset with you? The unexpected result (Lok Sabha polls) of UP is due to the coming together of several causes. The government’s image has become one of anti-teacher and anti-employee. This is because of the bureaucracy, whose decisions have ignited widespread public anger. Their decisions have become a curse for the government.”
“Apart from teaching work, teachers are being made to perform 30 works offline, so why is digital attendance being forced? Are teachers being given any extra facility for doing non-teaching work? Are teachers not humans and have they become machines? It is a question worth asking why digital attendance is not being implemented in other departments,” he added.
“Over the past few days, 85 employees of the office of DG (education) were found absent. Did you introduce digital attendance there,” he asked, while also raising the demand of filling the teacher vacancies in the state and implementing the old pension.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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