The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has directed all teacher education institutions (TEIs) and the central universities offering teacher education programmes to install biometric machines within 30 days to record attendance of the faculty members and students.
Cautioning tough actions against those failing to comply with the directive, it has sought the institutions to display the records of attendance on their websites, with updates "on a weekly basis" to enable regular monitoring "by the council designated staff or organisation.”
“Biometric attendance equipment must be installed within 30 days to accurately capture the attendance of appointed teaching faculty and each teacher-student enrolled for the programmes,” the council said in a recent directive to all institutions.
The teacher education regulator has made the biometric attendance system mandatory for all the teachers and students after it received reports about certain irregularities in recording and monitoring of the attendance records.
“NCTE has been made aware that the attendance of teachers and students enrolled to various programmes is not being properly monitored by the affiliating bodies/universities etc,” the regulator noted in its directive to the institutions
As a result, students with less than desirable attendance records have “reportedly” been allowed to appear in the examinations, it added.
Seeking swift implementation of its directive, the Council has reminded the institutions of its regulations which mandates them to maintain records, registers and other documents essential for running educational institutions.
It has also reminded the institutions of the council's regulations which stipulates mandatory disclosure of “up-to-date information” on their websites.
“Non-compliance in this regard shall merit action for withdrawal of recognition under Section 17 of the NCTE Act, 1993 after following the due procedure laid down thereunder,” the council warned the institutions in its directive.
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