Hyderabad Government School Teaching Hit by App Workload
HYDERABAD: Teaching in government schools across the district is being affected as teachers spend a significant part of the day on online applications, leading to disruption of regular classes and difficulties for students.
Clerks, assistants in short supply across schools
Of the nearly 378 government schools in the district, most do not have clerks, junior assistants or senior assistants to handle paperwork and online data entry. As a result, the burden of administrative and app-related work has fallen on teachers, despite many schools having adequate teaching staff.
A high school teacher from Nampally mandal said teachers were spending nearly half the working day on app related tasks, leaving little time for classroom teaching. With annual examinations approaching, only about 75% of the Class X syllabus has been completed so far, the teacher added.
Several teachers said the government should find alternatives instead of placing the entire app workload on them, warning that otherwise they would be forced to spend the whole day on mobile phones and tablets rather than in classrooms.
Two to three hours lost daily on online systems
As part of efforts to strengthen the education system, the state government has introduced several online applications. However, teachers say these have resulted in the loss of two to three working hours every day.
Earlier, student attendance was recorded by class teachers in registers. A few months ago, the government also introduced a face recognition system (SRS) app. Now, class teachers have to take attendance manually as well as upload student attendance through the SRS app using tablets or mobile phones. Teachers say this process alone takes around 45 minutes per class.
They also complain of poor mobile network signals during SRS attendance, leading to unclear photographs and repeated attempts. With such problems occurring daily, teachers say they are unable to focus adequately on teaching students.
In addition to SRS, teachers are struggling with uploads under the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) to provide accurate student data. High schools are also required to update information related to the Learning Improvement Programme (LIP), while primary schools have to handle uploads for the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) programme, adding to the workload.
Teachers say unless administrative support staff are appointed or the digital workload is streamlined, classroom teaching will continue to suffer.
