College principals violating seven-hour work rule, says DHE
BHUBANESWAR: The Higher Education department has warned principals of certain colleges under the regional directorate of education, Bhubaneswar, against violating the seven-hour work rule.
In a letter to all principals of colleges under the directorate’s jurisdiction, the department said irregularities have been found in the biometric attendance of many principals and their unauthorised absence from duty has been noticed time and again.
“It has come to notice that despite several requests from the government regarding the 7-hour duty rule, cases of violations are increasing. Besides, some principals are remaining unauthorisedly absent from colleges without intimation to the authorities concerned after recording their biometric attendance,” the letter read.
The department further directed principals of all government, aided and unaided colleges to be present on campus from 10 am to 5 pm every working day and submit their biometric attendance.
In 2019, the department had extended the duty hours of teachers and principals in government colleges from five hours to seven hours. However, in 2023, during an opinion-seeking exercise conducted by the department in higher education institutions, students had alleged that principals and faculty members of several institutions were not spending seven hours on campuses for academic work.
Following this, the department decided that its performance tracking cell will collect reports from colleges and universities every month on whether all the principals and faculty members have clocked the seven-hour attendance or not.