BENGALURU: The department of school education and literacy is all set to implement the AI-based student facial recognition attendance system for students in government schools and pre-university colleges by May -- the beginning of the next academic year. The department has directed the Centre for e-Governance to prepare the app as soon as possible and install a complete system in every school in the first week of May.
As per the department’s order, Rs 2,16,87,232 has been dedicated for the implementation of this AI system in schools and the education commissioner will release the amount soon.
The department has instructed that the Centre for e-Governance should take steps to develop an application to capture student attendance in all types of environments (low-light conditions) and to ensure that no student’s attendance is missed. Student registration and attendance must be compulsorily integrated with the SATS software, and the necessary data for this must be provided to the centre by the head of department concerned.
Currently, the drop out rate in secondary education is 22.02%. Education activists believe that introducing this system in schools and colleges will help the department reduce the number of school dropouts, trace them and bring them back to schools.
Kathyayini Chamraj, Executive Trustee, CIVIC, said, “In most schools when students drop out, teachers mark them absent for six days. But on the seventh day, if the child doesn’t come back, they mark them present. This is wrong and with such technology, these faults can be rectified. It will also help reduce the drop outs among female students as well child marriage. Teachers will have to actively work to bring back those children henceforth.”