SSA goes biometric way to check dropouts in state

To track government school students who do not attend school for four or five days at a stretch, the Tamil Nadu state project directorate for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has embarked on a pilot project to implement biometric attendance at a government higher secondary school in Perambalur. 

Pooja Kulkarni, State Project Directsor, SSA, said that if a student takes leave with permission there is an assurance that he would return. But in case if there is no prior intimation, teachers would speak to the parents to check the student’s status after five days and help him/her get back to school. 

“We are now working out the number of handheld devices that we will need for the school. We have taken into consideration that the attendance needs to be taken within the first 30 minutes of commencement of classes in the morning,” Kulkarni said. 

The project would be implemented on a trial basis for 400-odd students from Classes 1 to 12 in the school this month onwards with SSA funding the project. 

Perambalur being a small district and the interest shown by the district administration to implement this project made SSA select the district for the pilot project.