South Africa to tackle teacher absenteeism with biometrics
19 February, 2013
category: Education, Government
South Africa’s Department of Basic Education wants to cut back on the problem of absentee teachers in its schools, so it is planning to implement a biometric time and attendance system in its 24,000 schools nationwide, reports MoneyWeb.
The department will replace its current sign in/sign out system by 2015, or earlier, if the teachers will agree and funding can be found. Current reports speculate that the project could cost R480 million.
The biometric system will be integrated with the department’s Persal human resources management tool. Automating the attendance process will solve the problem of teachers signing in for each other or forgetting to sign in. Attendance is linked to salaries, and with better tracking, the department hopes to have more accurate payroll records and be better able to fill vacancies.
The department plans on running a pilot program as part of the implementation process.
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