Karnataka Attendance Management System implemented for Education Department staff; demand rises to include teachers too

To effectively manage and monitor attendance of its staff, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has implemented the mobile-based Karnataka Attendance Management System (KAMS) for all Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPIs) and Block Education Officers (BEOs), including the staff of Commissionerate of Public Instruction in Bengaluru.

From December 1, the KAMS attendance system was implemented in the Commissionerate of Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in place of the previous biometric attendance system.

This comes amid rising demand from the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) to make KAMS attendance system mandatory for teachers as well to ensure quality education and prevent absenteeism.

What has changed

Till now, the daily attendance and timekeeping of officers/staff in the School Education Department was being managed through the biometric hardware system. However, many shortcomings were found, such as maintenance of the machinery in the biometric system and the maintenance of reports or data.

In addition, the State government has taken steps to implement a uniform attendance management system in all government offices. In this regard, to address the challenges posed by the traditional attendance methods such as register-based and signing attendance system in the government offices, the State government has developed a mobile-based KAMS, through the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (e-Governance).

This technology is Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled and works on Facial Recognition and Geographical Information System (GIS).

In this attendance system, employees must mandatorily seed their Aadhaar details along with all their service information. Failing this, the monthly salary of such officers/staff will not be generated.

“A link has already been shared in the WhatsApp group of the Commissioner’s office to make it mandatory for every officer/staff to register in the KMAS. A user manual and link have also been provided in English and Kannada versions of KAMS. In addition to stopping the salaries of officers and staff who do not register for the new attendance system, disciplinary action will be taken,” the Commissioner of DPI warned.

Teacher absenteeism

Meanwhile, speaking to The Hindu, Umesh G. Gangavadi, State president of SDMC, urged that teachers too be included in the new system.

“Teacher absenteeism is common in government schools. Even the officials are not properly managing the attendance of teachers. It is common for many teachers to be absent from school without any reason on the pretext of office work. This is hampering quality education. The government has already taken steps to implement AI based Facial Recognition Attendance System for school children. Now, KAMS attendance has been implemented for the officers and staff of the department,” he said.