Published on October 9, 2025
Delhi, India
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has advanced its digital education agenda by linking student attendance directly to the Chief Minister’s dashboard, enabling real-time oversight across the state’s vast school network. This builds on a two-year-old push for full digitization of school records and attendance systems, targeting improved accountability and learning outcomes.
- Key Highlights:
- Covers over 1.5 crore children in 1.3 lakh government-run primary and upper primary schools.
- Aligns with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 goals for tech-enabled, transparent schooling.
- Initial rollout includes class-wise digital registers, with expansion to secondary schools planned for real-time tracking of over one crore students and five lakh teachers.
Implementation Details
The system leverages the Prerna portal for seamless data flow, combining biometric tools with manual verifications to ensure accuracy in attendance marking.
- Core Components:
- Digital attendance via face recognition on tablets for students (teachers’ system deferred).
- Schools must upload photographs of students during class hours to the Prerna portal for verification.
- Digitization of all 12 types of school registers, from admission to exam records, for centralized access.
- Dashboard integration provides district-level analytics, influencing monthly performance rankings.
Key Directives and Timeline
In-charge Director General of School Education (DGSE) Monika Rani has issued clear instructions to enforce compliance starting this month, tying attendance to broader administrative evaluations.
- Official Mandates:
- Directives sent to all assistant directors, district basic education officers, and block education officers for October 2025 rollout.
- Student presence data to feed directly into CM dashboard, impacting district rankings for the month.
- Timeline: Full activation by mid-October; ongoing monitoring through year-end, with secondary school integration by early 2026.
- Quote from DGSE Monika Rani: “The integration of students’ attendance to the CM dashboard will play a pivotal role in the ranking of districts for October.”
Benefits and Impact
This digital shift promises to address chronic absenteeism, a key barrier to educational equity in Uttar Pradesh, by enabling proactive interventions and data-driven policies.
- Expected Advantages:
- Real-time dashboards allow daily monitoring and swift action on low attendance, potentially reducing absenteeism by 15-20% in high-risk areas.
- Enhances resource allocation, like targeted counseling or transport support for chronic absentees.
- Boosts overall school performance metrics, linking to state incentives for top-ranking districts.
- Statistics Insight: UP’s government schools report average attendance rates of 70-80%, with this system aiming to push towards 90% through accountability measures.
Challenges and Adjustments
While student-focused, the initiative faced early hurdles from educators, leading to policy tweaks that prioritize smooth adoption.
- Notable Issues:
- Teacher protests in mid-2024 against mandatory biometric attendance, citing location tracking and technical glitches—resulting in deferral for staff.
- Infrastructure gaps in rural schools, addressed via phased tablet distribution and training under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
- Mitigation Steps: Focus solely on students for now; ongoing workshops for block officers to handle uploads and data privacy.
