Huh! No phones in classrooms. But teachers told to take a selfie with the students

Maharashtra's new Government Resolution plans to mandate teachers to click selfies in order to track student attendance

From Monday, teachers have to upload the selfies on the Saral database with the name and Aadhaar card number of the students. Representational pic

The state government's new brainwave — issuing a Government Resolution (GR) mandating teachers to take selfies with groups of 10 students each to track attendance and reduce dropouts — has come under fire from all quarters. How will it help?

From Monday, teachers have to upload these selfies on the Systematic Administrative Reforms for Achieving Learning by Students (Saral) database with the name and Aadhaar card number of the students. Using that, the government plans to curb the dropout rate and monitor malpractices by schools that add bogus students to receive additional grant.

Idea slammed
Activists and school authorities, however, have derided the government for their approach to the issue. "This is a totally bogus idea as it has no connection with the number of dropouts. Instead of coming up with such a ridiculous idea, the government should focus on improving the school infrastructure, providing quality education, and install a video camera in the classrooms to monitor continuously," said Jayant Jain, president of Forum For Fairness In Education.

The resolution is also questionable as the authenticity of a selfie clicked by the teacher could be suspect as well, Jain said. "Anyone can easily fool the government by taking a selfie with children who are not even studying in the school."

Dichotomy of principle
Principals, who have to look after the discipline and integrity of the school, aver this resolution as unsettling for the school environment. "This is highly disturbing for the school environment as instead of taking the lecture, now teachers will waste their time in taking selfies," said Father Swami, Principal of St. Mary's School.

Another point raised by Prashant Redij, President of the Principals' Association of Mumbai, points out, "On one side, the government has passed a resolution that mobile phones should not be used in classrooms, and now today, it is asking us to take a selfie with students. How is that even possible?"

Politicians jump in
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant jibed, "Instead of this, the CM should take selfies with his cabinet colleagues and post it to show their attendance."

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