Authorities in the Zilla Panchayat, a district council in India, have implemented biometric time and attendance tracking for high school teachers under their jurisdiction.
The system is, of course, linked to Aadhaar, the country’s biometric citizen ID program. In this case, it’s administrated via Android tablets equipped with thumb scanners. Teachers will have to register their Aadhaar credentials via a web portal, and will then scan their thumbs to sign in for work. The system will apply to non-teaching staff at the district schools, as well.
It’s another example of how India’s biometric ID program is being used to improve civil society, with Aadhaar also having been linked to time and attendance systems for government employees, and used in a range of other administrative purposes. It’s even starting to find important applications in India’s financial services sector, where citizens’ Aadhaar credentials are being linked to bank accounts and in some cases even replacing their banking cards at ATMs.
In the case of the Zilla Panchayat’s high schools, officials are hopeful that the time and attendance tracking system will ultimately have positive outcomes for students, who generally stand to benefit from any potential improvements in the attendance of school staff.
Source: The Hindu
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June 14, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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