Delhi University readies biometrics tracking for faculty
The executive council at the University of Delhi has authorized the university’s administration to move ahead with the implementation of biometrics to track its faculty.
The university had planned to introduce the biometric system in 2009 but they had to hastily withdraw the decision after the Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) went on strike in protest.
Public interest litigation surrounding the implementation of the system was pending before the Delhi High Court, as reportedly previously in BiometricUpdate.com. A legal group representing students wanted to argue before the courts that pupils were being shortchanged due to lack of teacher punctuality.
The court however quickly disposed of the case, when the university promised to quickly implement the system in order to be in compliance with country-wide university guidelines.
According to India’s University Grants Commission, universities and colleges must ensure a minimum of 30 weeks of actual teaching by faculty members. Consequently, the workload of teachers should not be less than 40 hours a week for 180 teaching days.
University instructors, especially those with membership in “Academics for Action and Development”, have made a direct appeal to the university’s executive not to implement the technology on campus, claiming that the use of such measures are draconian.
The university’s administration is expected to implement the technology for teachers anyway to crack down on teacher tardiness. Biometrics had been previously introduced for the university’s non-teaching staff.
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