The Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association has urged Samagra Shiksha-Assam to stop teachers from using personal smartphones to mark attendance on the Shiksha Setu portal, arguing that attendance should be recorded only through government-provided tablets kept inside schools.
The association raised the demand at a meeting with Samagra Shiksha-Assam officials on Wednesday. It said using personal phones could allow some teachers to register their attendance from outside school campuses, potentially enabling them to skip classes while appearing present on the system.
“Attendance should be marked on the Shiksha Setu app using tablets provided by the state govt to schools. If teachers can mark attendance through the app on their personal smartphones, some may do so from outside the campus without attending classes,” association president Ratul Chandra Goswami said.
The association’s principal secretary, Sailendra Kalita, said officials had assured the teachers’ body that the proposal would be examined. The meeting also discussed technical concerns related to the Shiksha Setu system, including instances where teachers could open and close WhatsApp whenever they wished, according to the association.
The demand places the equipment used for digital attendance at the centre of school-level accountability. Under the proposal, attendance-marking devices would remain in schools rather than being linked to teachers’ personal smartphones. The association said this would help connect an attendance record to the physical location where classes are expected to take place. Samagra Shiksha-Assam officials have not announced a decision on the proposal in the information available from the meeting.
The teachers’ body also called for greater transparency in recording teachers’ non-academic duties. It said the meeting agreed that details of such assignments across Assam would be made available on the Shiksha Setu portal. Such information would provide a digital record of duties that teachers are assigned beyond classroom teaching, although the report does not specify when the information will be uploaded or how it will be verified.
Several school-related financial and administrative matters were also discussed. The association sought completion of school-uniform distribution by December and a revision of the instalment-based release of infrastructure funds. It also said Samagra Shiksha-Assam would submit a proposal to the government seeking extension of the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme to contractual teachers.
The association further urged the government to release 90% of Contributory Provident Fund dues for teachers regularised under the Special Recruitment Drive, covering their tenure with Samagra Shiksha-Assam. Other demands included medical leave provisions for all teachers, solar power facilities in every primary school and the release of Rs 25,000 to schools that secured an A+ grade in Gunotsav 2024-25.
The meeting also addressed financial shortfalls linked to mid-day meals. The association said schools were facing funding gaps because mid-day meal allocations are calculated using attendance recorded on the Shiksha Setu e-portal. It said an agreement had been reached to clear the outstanding mid-day meal dues. The next formal step is Samagra Shiksha-Assam’s examination of the tablet-based attendance proposal and the submission of the pending government proposal on career progression for contractual teachers.
