Apparently yielding to the pressure put by the teachers’ associations of DAV (PG) College over mandatory attendance through biometric system for teachers, the State Government has directed the college principal Devendra Bhasin to record teachers’ attendance in the register book twice a day.
The Government’s decision came after the college teachers led by Rajpur Road MlA and parliamentary secretary Rajkumar had met the higher education principal secretary Manisha Panwar and opposed the
principal’s decision on attendance through biometric system.
Rajkumar had batted for replacing biometric system with register book in empathy with the agitating teachers’ demand.
Recently, the Uttarakhand High Court while dealing with a writ petition (PIl) no 164 of 2013 observed that University Grants Commission’s directive on the mandatory minimum 180 days of teaching a year is not being followed in the institutions under the HNB Garhwal Central University and the teachers are not available in the institutions for the stipulated five hours a day.
In compliance with HC order, the University registrar had directed the head of every institution affiliated to this University to ensure
that teachers are availa ble at least for five hours in the college.
In tune with the order, the college principal Bhasin had installed biometric system in the college and directed the teachers to record their
attendance through it.
Teachers, however, had raised hue and cry, opposing the biometric system and demanding it be replaced with register book.
Moreover, the college teachers had demonstrated at the campus under the banner of Federation of Uttarakhand University Colleges Teachers’ Association (FUUCTA) and HNB Garhwal University Teacher’s Association (GUPA) on Wednesday. Rajpur Road MlA Rajkumar reached the protest site to lend his weight behind the teachers on stir on the issue.
later, a delegation of teachers led by Rajkumar met the state higher education principal secretary Manisha Panwar.
Bhasin admitted that the State Government has directed him to replace the biometric system with the register book and to ensure at the same time that the teachers record their attendance twice a day in the register book.