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KOHIMA — The Department of School Education has announced that the SMILE application for the teacher attendance monitoring system (TAMS) will be rolled out on a pilot basis in 74 schools across two educational blocks in Nagaland.
The L Khel Block in Kohima district, which has 38 schools, and the Pungro Block in Kiphire district, which has 36 schools, have been chosen to participate in the SMILE app's pilot rollout from February to March 2024.
The department stated that TAMS, developed by the Nagaland Education Project - The Lighthouse (NECTAR), aims to provide all government schools, teachers and school leaders in Nagaland with the necessary software and hardware tools to report daily attendance reliably and on time.
The system will specifically employ facial recognition technology for person identification along with location and time stamping.
The Nagaland Education Project -The Lighthouse (NECTAR) extensively toured all blocks and districts in the state for a physical verification and authentication exercise last year.
“A pilot has been scheduled to determine its usability, identify risks, and apply feedback for improvement of the app before the statewide rollout,” the department noted.
During the pilot phase, schools are instructed to mark their attendance as soon as the school reopens on February 10, 2024, with the check-in time fixed no later than 9 am and check-out time after 1 pm.
Attendance marked any time after 9 am will be flagged as ‘late check-in,’ and any time before 1 pm as ‘early check-out.’
The app’s accessibility will be open from 8 am to 5 pm, allowing overtime for some employees. Working hours for all employees during the pilot phase will be Monday to Friday.
Further, the head of the establishment or school is designated as the 'regularisation supervisor for leaves and attendance' during the pilot phase.
Upon successful implementation of the new TAMS, it is expected to eliminate the infamous absenteeism and proxy culture in schools across the state.
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