School teachers in Sindh to mark their attendance through mobile app

The Sindh Education Department has decided to automate the schoolteachers’ attendance and payroll system and student enrolment records and to integrate them through a mobile application.

Officials said the government has initiated work on a mobile application aimed at digitally monitoring teachers’ and staff attendance, linking attendance records directly with the Accountant’s Office, and digitizing student enrollment records.

Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah said: “We are embarking on a digital journey of performance, transparency, and monitoring to ensure that resources are utilized based on facts.”

A meeting regarding the digital attendance system for teachers was held in Karachi on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by the education minister.

Those who attended the meeting included Secretary School Education Zahid Ali Abbasi, Director General Monitoring & Evaluation Mola Bakhsh Sheikh, Deputy Director Ghazi Khan Mahar, and other relevant officials.

During the meeting, the Monitoring and Evaluation Wing demonstrated the mechanism for digitizing attendance. It was explained that teachers’ attendance will be recorded through the Iris (IRIS) Recognition System, a biometric authentication technology that identifies individuals based on the unique patterns of their irises. This system will be integrated into the mobile application to ensure the accuracy and security of attendance tracking. Officials highlighted that iris patterns are unique to each person and remain unchanged throughout life, making iris scanning a fast, accurate, and secure method of identity verification.

Furthermore, the education minister was briefed that the mobile application will be integrated with location-based geofencing technology. Geofencing establishes virtual boundaries using GPS or mobile networks, ensuring that teachers and staff can only mark their attendance upon arriving at the school premises. The app will function even without internet access, as offline attendance data will be automatically updated once the internet is restored.

The meeting also clarified that teachers and staff will be able to mark their attendance by opening the app on their mobile phones and scanning their faces. Attendance will be recorded both when arriving at and leaving school.

Additionally, an option for applying for leave will be included, along with daily, weekly, and monthly attendance reports. The application will also generate reports on late arrivals, early departures, and absences. To improve efficiency, the provincial education minister directed that a notification system should be incorporated into the app, sending warnings to mobile phones in case of unreported absences or consistent tardiness.

The student enrollment database will also be linked to the system, integrating student records with B-Form (national identity registration) for accurate future data tracking. In the next phase, the application will be connected to the Sindh Accountant General’s Office, ensuring that salaries for unapproved absences will be automatically deducted through the system.