All 907 bio-metric attendance machines in the government primary schools in six upazilas of Jhenaidah district remained inoperative for almost five years. After the bio-metric attendance machines were installed in 2018-19 fiscal year, some of the machines went out of work within a few months. Moreover, some of them were inoperative ever since they have been installed.
The machines neither could be repaired, nor replaced, enforcing the teachers in signing on manual attendance registers like past times. It was witnessed in a number of government primary schools in Jhenaidahsadar, Harinakundu and bordering Moheshpur upazilas. The manual system cannot check the attendance of the teachers who delayed on coming to the school as there was no way to record when they attended the office.
During a visit on Tuesday, this correspondent saw that the bio-metric attendance machines in Jasim Uddin Government primary school in Harinakundu upazila of Jhenaidah was not being used. The attending teachers were signing in the attendance register like they used to in the past. When the teachers were asked regarding the problem, they said, the machine, installed about five years ago went out of order within a few months. Since then, it was neither repaired or replaced anyway. To ensure their daily attendance, they were compelled to sign manually on the attendance register book.
Akhterul Haque, headmaster of the school when contacted said, the bio-metric attendance machines were purchased with the annual maintenance fund of the school titled “School Level Improvement Plan (SLIP) as per the advice of the Upazila Parishad Chairman in the fiscal of 2018-19. Within a few months, the machines became inoperative as the battery of the machine could not be changed anyway. Steps were taken to contact the company who supplied the machines so that the machines could be repaired or replaced, but they could not be contacted.
District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) in Jhenaidah Ananda Kishore Saha when contacted, said they had purchased a total of 907 bio-metric attendance machines with the SLIP funds. The price of each machine is Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 and the total cost of buying all the 907 machines were almost Tk 2 crores. Upazila wise number of government primary schools and machines is 215 machines in Jhenaidah Sadar upazila, 150 machines in Kaliganj upazila, 74 machines in Kotchandpur, 152 machines in bordering Moheshpur upazila, 181 machines in Shailkupa and the remaining 135 machines in Harinakundu upazila.
The DPEO said the machines were procured as per the advice of the respective upazila parishad chairmen during the fiscal of 2018-19. But the concern suppliers could not be reached any way when the machines started to become inoperative one after another. I addition, they could not be repaired either as the battery and other spare parts of the “onetime” machines manufactured in China were not available in the market. He cannot see any possibility of the machines being repaired of the machines now. Furthermore, no guidelines or instructions they had received so far from the department of primary education in this regards. They have informed the authorities concerned regarding this issue. However, they did not take any action either, DPEO Ananda Kishore Saha said.
