A teacher from Bihar received a notice from the district education officer for taking attendance online while sitting in her car. This incident has led to disciplinary action by the education department.
The teacher has been issued a show cause notice and was also asked to send an official response within two days. The department also mentioned that if the response is unsatisfactory, further action will be taken, reported News18.
The incident took place in Baikunthpur Block in Gopalganj District of Bihar and the teacher is identified as Renu Kumari. District Education Officer (DEO) Yogesh Kumar issued a notice to the teacher, creating a stir among the other teachers.
According to the new guidelines of the education department, all teachers are required to mark their daily attendance through the e-ShikshaKosh application. To follow this method, the teachers must take a selfie while standing on the school premises and upload it to the app.
However, teacher Kumari on several occasions in September, marked her attendance while being seated in a car. The incident was later investigated by the higher officials, and the allegation was found to be true.
Following this, DEO Kumar instructed the headmaster of the school to ask for clarification from the teacher and submit it at the DEO’s office within two days. Failing which or if it is unsatisfactory, further actions will be taken.
Moreover, the DEO’s office also attached the photos of the teacher’s attendance to support their claim. It was spotted that the teacher marked her attendance while sitting in a car on September 9, 10, 13, 14, 23, 24, 27 and October 2. Following this, disciplinary action was taken.
It was reported that many such incidents had taken place earlier, which led the officials to keep a lookout for such instances. The reports also suggested that many teachers previously were found to practice this system for marking attendance. This has led to a massive stir in the education department.
After this system was implemented in May, more than 700 teachers lost their day’s salary, Hindustan Times reported.