Online attendance system in place at govt hostels

In an effort to maintain transparency in government-hostels run by the Social Welfare Department, online biometric attendance system has been introduced in the district and December 13 was the last date for completing online registration of all students and staff.

With this facility, senior officials of the department can now view all details, including the strength of the students and staff in hostels, from their chambers in Bengaluru with just a click of the mouse.

This will also help assess the situation in case either the students or the employees are absent for long. If the situation is alarming, the online system helps them to direct the district-level officials to take suitable measures.

The process

In all, there are 3,300 students in the hostels of the district. The district social welfare officer has held a meeting with all wardens and has explained the process to them.

The details of the students registered can now be viewed online. There are is also no possiblity of corruption as photographs of the students have been uploaded and  specific registrations number have been given for each student receiving government scholarship. The system is applicable to wardens, cooks and other staff too.

Money misused plugged

Fifty-six pre-matric and post-matric hostels are run by the department in the district. Students usually visit their native places on Saturdays, Sundays and government holidays. Since there were allegations that the wardens were tampering the records and misusing the funds, the biometric attendance system has been implemented. The inmates have to affix their thumb impression in the morning, afternoon and evening.

In a latest development, biometric attendance has gone online. It may be mentioned that the online biometric attendance system was introduced in other districts a month ago.

Funds saved

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Social Welfare Officer Rajesh G Gowda said the new system will help in maintaining transparency. As there is no BSNL internet services at Mangalli, Martalli, Dinnalli, and Jannur villages, steps are being taken for providing internet facilities, he said.

According to the reports prepared by the department, implementation of biometric attendance system has helped the government save about 15 per cent of funds. As the students’ attendance is now available, it will help the department to release funds according to the numbers, Gowda added.