Kolkata: Taltala High School has introduced digital attendance for students of classes XI and XII from Thursday. The move aims at ensuring that senior students regularly attend classes. Jadavpur Vidyapith, another state-run school in the city, had earlier introduced digital attendance.
A device has been installed at the Taltala school entrance where students have to scan their school identity card while entering and exiting.The school has developed a mobile app as well, through which parents will get real-time data on the arrival and departure of their wards.
School headmaster Rittick Kundu said, “The system has been introduced for students of classes XI and XII to keep a record of the arrival and departure times of each child and to allow parents to know the same.” He said the system needed to be introduced as a deterrent after a few students were found to have skipped some classes and then lied to their parents that the school had been shut on those days.
“Parents need to know whether their children are attending classes or not. The mobile app will give them real-time data and we can also keep them updated by sharing data on a regular basis,” said Kundu.
Jadavpur Vidyapith had introduced digital attendance from the Jan session, ahead of the new academic session. School headmaster Partha Pratim Baidya said, “The system has been running successfully. Recently, a few students who skipped classes and went to some other places could be tracked by their parents only because of this mobile app. The system was also required for the safety and security of the students, and to monitor their arrival and departure.”
Some other schools, like Baranagar Rajkumari School and Garia Harimati School, have also adopted the digital attendance system to monitor students.