Bid to better functioning of schools through app
2 min readBHAGALPUR: The Bhagalpur district education office has implemented the ‘Bihar Easy School Tracking (BEST)’ system at the state-run schools in the district to rein in absentee teachers and errant students.
Besides monitoring the attendance of teachers and day-to-day activities of students, the BEST system also monitors the implementation of midday meal scheme.
According to sources, BEST is a mobile phone application launched by the Bihar Education Project Council for data reporting that enables real-time monitoring of schools with an aim to aid the school authorities, education department and district administration as well as peoples’ representatives to improve the functioning of government schools.
Sources in the district education office said on Monday many issues like complaints about absent teachers without authorised leave, students not attending classes or not participating in school events and midday meal scheme, among others, would be monitored closely with the implementation of BEST.
A meeting on the implementation of BEST and the functioning of state-run schools was convened by Bhagalpur DM Pranav Kumar on Sunday.
District education officer Madhusudan Paswan told this newspaper on Monday that BEST was being implemented at government schools on priority basis. “We will be able to know the exact number of teachers and students in schools through this application. We will also be able to monitor their presence in the schools through visuals photographs,” Paswan said.
“The system will also provide a platform for better interaction as most of the schoolteachers and education department employees have mobile phones. Right from block resource persons, block resources centre coordinator, block education officer to district coordinators and education department officials will be able to monitor the day-to-day activities at schools and report to the higher authorities,” Paswan said.
He said the district administration was also contemplating monitoring teachers’ presence through WhatsApp groups in which photographs would have to be posted every day to mark the presence of teachers at schools.
Courtesy: TNN
