Laudable it is that the bureaucratic set up– supposedly not known for contributing significantly to the academic excellence of the school education — came up with a policy to elevate the attendance level of teachers at Jammu and Kashmir government-run schools, a policy long due to crack whip on errant attendance from teaching personnel. Obviously, toying with the timely arrival and departure had incurably become a matter of routine, prompting a strong administrative response. The birth of the new policy –JK Attendance application –more than two years ago, too suggested all was not well. Leaving a lot to be desired on the ground notably is the well-intentioned attendance application, viewed dispassionately.
They say that lots of teachers, in particular the outnumbering local ones, brazenly abuse the online application on countless occasions, undermining its noble goal: improved attendance and academics. Days /half days spent somewhere for personal gains get counted as legal service thanks to the attendance app: a teacher checks in within or outside the school premises and disappears; then minutes before or hours after close of school reappears to check out inside or outside the school premises. This has an added advantage: availing a leave of absence is no longer a necessity or requirement but a matter of choice. The immediate boss in favour, you are as free as a bird goes — the all-powerful perception.
Worse, the scenario bears a scope, at the implementation phase, for the application’s unfair and unjustified use to advantage for the unscrupulous elements. This pokes fun at the punctual and regular duty of the teachers of integrity. Have a rich purse and good contacts , your defiant conduct largely remains unnoticed ; even justified by lazy excuses; the attendance app, therefore, acts as a stepping stone for you to secure your personal interests what though you remain away from school at will.
In stark contrast, numerous non -local teachers reportedly find life increasingly difficult in such an atmosphere — unknowingly –favoring the local staff. Certain quarters believe that an adequate academic betterment is a far cry unless a level playing field is in force. Undeniably for most teachers, a feeling of insecurity towards the job arises from worries on daily basis with respect to their non-deliberate failure in the timely marking of attendance online.
Many a time, non-local teachers are unable to record attendance on schedule: traffic jams/ congested roads, must-have police checking’s, delayed journeys — these are the major and unavoidable reasons of inadvertent late arrival oftentimes. This behind schedule arrival gets recorded through the application and the said causes cannot be proven afterwards, a most worrisome situation for the affected teachers understandably viewing the late arrival as a threat to their payroll status. Now how can a helplessly perturbed teacher work effectively at school, is hard to figure out?
The situation, I repeat, is said to be strikingly different for a vast majority of the local teachers duty-bound, like other teachers, to stay at school throughout working hours to take care of the entrusted resources. One, these locals find it convenient enough to leave for duty some 5 to 10 minutes before the arrival time and do the attendance inside or within some meters outside the school. Two, nine out of ten among them walk off from duty routinely and fearlessly during a day. This leaves the school property and the students vulnerable but these ‘ public servants’ care little knowing well their own job remains secure as the app shows them on duty even if they are away for hours on end ; their return or not loses relevance for them. Does not this willful misconduct amount to dishonesty and toxic local dominance at the expense of public, students?
That dents the department’s credibility in public eyes, with the guilty teachers walking free. In effect, leaving duty aside unlawfully for a personal matter is crossing the red line and becoming a law unto themselves. Some intriguing questions remain unanswered: Are such teaching employees a privileged lot? Are they incorrigible? Are they not cheating public and plundering the taxpayers’ money? Why are they not taken to task? Who is supporting them?
That the attendance application has curbed the non -serious and irresponsible behavior towards punctuality and regularity to an extent is welcome and praiseworthy. However, the app’s potential has not purportedly stood the test of time in light of its downside unintentionally favoring those teaching persons who are sedentary and the ones having an escape route.
A bitter pill to swallow, the attendance application apparently has seen its better days. To up the learning standards and safeguard the credibility of government schools, some steps are imperative. One, transfer policy be enforced to cover all categories of teachers, including and preferably the non-moving but largest category: ReTs. Impartial and in earnest follow through inspections by the zonal and district administration could be a key deterrent. Three, non- local master grade teachers must act as Heads of Institutions at the elementary level, replacing the teacher grade HOIs and their (latter’s) questionable way of running an institution. Four, having a watchdog above the implementing entities cannot be overstated.
Above all, discipline towards duty cannot be fostered unless people are educated and engaged; neither online nor any other mode of attendance are foolproof for a human mind. Course correction is essential to clip the wings of indiscipline and restore public trust, a goal and necessity towards a fair and transparent system. Corruption is deeply entrenched in our social and political consciousness is an open secret. Let us join hands to shun this menace. That will herald a new dawn and things themselves will fall in place. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” — John Keats
(Author is a teacher and RK columnist. Feedback: [email protected])
