Teachers threaten strike in protest of biometric system
17 January, 2013
category: Biometrics, Education
Teachers in government schools in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, are threatening to strike in protest of the government’s proposal to introduce a biometric attendance system into the institutions.
As reported in the Times of India, the state wants to implement the system to add accountability and discipline in a system where teachers routinely violate the mandate to spend a minimum of six hours teaching each school day. It’s planning to implement a swipe machine to replace a manual attendance system.
The system will affect more than 1 million teachers in 6,000 state-run high school. Teachers associations are against the proposal and say that conditions in the schools should be improved over implementing a system that could cost up to Rs 300 million.
Two teachers unions have threatened to go on strike in February if the government continues on with the proposal.
Read more here.