Higher education ministry begins installation of biometric systems

The Higher education ministry has asked the department officials to start the installation of the biometric system at all the degree colleges and universities. State Higher Education Minister GT Devegowda said that, “We want to make biometric systems installation in all colleges and universities for students and staff mandatory. So everybody on the campus should punch in and out every day.”

“This will cut down the proxy attendance and we will also stop getting complaints about teachers not taking classes regularly,” he added.

An official from the higher education department said that a tender document is being prepared for the biometric installation. An official said, “The process is tedious as we have to go through the tendering process first, which we will initiate in a week.”

Officials from the department said that the biometric system will be linked to the examination system as well. “So when a student punches in and out every day from his classroom, the system is directly linked to the servers. Top officials of the university or the technical team will have access to this data. This data will calculate the percentage of attendance for students.”

Officials said a minimum percentage of attendance will be mandatory. Once this is automatically linked to the examination system, if a student fails to meet the percentage, then their hall tickets will not be generated. “Teachers attendance and staff attendance is being monitored regularly on the campus now. Students will not be able to get away with shirking. This will be a relief for professors too as we will not have to cancel classes just because there is low attendance.”