AI system to track staff attendance in Chandigarh’s government schools
Jan 31, 2025 09:56 AM IST
There are a total of 111 government schools in Chandigarh, where around 5,000 teachers are working in different capacities
The UT education department has launched a new AI-based app for staff in government schools to mark their attendance. Chandigarh will be the first city in the country to implement such a system on a large scale.
A soft launch of the app was done on Thursday to fine tune the system as the system will now be officially launched and implemented Friday onwards. All employees will have to use the AadhaarBAS app for this. It will work using the employees’ Aadhaar information and will have geo-fencing.
Geo-fencing is the use of GPS or other technology to create a virtual geographic boundary, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.
By uploading a picture, employees can use their phone to mark their attendance by clicking a picture with the app. Due to geo-fencing, it can only be used within the confines of the schools and will ensure that the real time location of teachers is within the school during the shift timing.
The app is made by the Aadhaar government agency. The department has integrated it with the school attendance and linked it to the Vidya Sameeksha Kendra maintained by the department.
Speaking about the benefits of this system, UT director school education Harsuhinderpal Singh Brar said, “This system will bring transparency to the attendance process. It will reduce paper work and it is efficient on time. It will create an electronic database for attendance authentication which will also speed up payment of salary to the teachers.”
Brar added that attendance will have to be marked in person by the employee. They will have to mark it in school and it will also display their location. The department has already digitalised the process to apply for leaves from February 1 and it will reduce paperwork and the time lost due to movement of files.
This is a part of the push towards digitalisation and using AI for school governance. The department is also in the process of setting up an AI-based app to assess the quality of the meals served under the PM Poshan scheme. They are also in the process of using AI in the Swachhta Monitoring App to keep a track of cleanliness in schools, especially washrooms.
There are a total of 111 government schools in the city, where around 5,000 teachers are working in different capacities.
