Coronavirus Scare: Odisha Govt Suspends Biometric Attendance In Higher Education Institutions

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Higher Education Department has directed colleges and universities to suspend biometric attendance in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The authorities have been asked to instruct their teaching and non-teaching staff not to use biometric machines with immediate effect. This will be applicable till March 31. During this period, the heads of the departments will keep record of attendance of their staff as per rule, official sources said.

Biometric in higher education institutions was introduced in September last year to ensure staff remained in office for at least 7 hours.

It was mandatory for all staff to reach office by 10 am. A grace period of half an hour was given as ”office in” timing considering aspects like traffic and distance of office from the place of residence. Those reaching office after 11 am were considered as ”absent”.

This was part of 5T initiative in higher education sector under the Mo Sarkar programme started by the Naveen Patnaik government in its fifth term.