Biometric attendance made mandatory in Waziristan schools

WANA: Department of Education in South Waziristan Lower has directed the installation of biometric attendance systems in all government schools.

An official letter, issued to both male and female District Education Officers (DEOs), outlined the immediate implementation of Education Management Information System biometric devices to ensure regular and verifiable attendance of teaching staff.

The newly introduced system will record attendance through facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, requiring staff to mark their presence twice a day - once upon arrival and again at the end of the school day. This initiative aims to eliminate absenteeism and ensure transparency in staff deployment, a problem that has long plagued educational institutions in the region.

Officials said the use of biometric technology would not only monitor attendance but also authenticate the identities of teachers through their national ID records. They said that the decision was taken on the demand of political leaders and civil society activists, who have raised concerns over the ineffective functioning of government schools due to chronic staff absenteeism and lack of proper monitoring mechanisms.

“The absence of teachers without accountability has been a major hurdle in the region’s educational development. The introduction of biometric verification is a long-overdue reform,” a local education rights advocate said.