Maharashtra State Board has made mandatory biometric attendance for class 11 and 12 students in their schools and colleges from the next academic year 2025-26. The rule is amide to securing 75% attendance and breaking the private coaching nexus, reported TOI.
Currently, students take admission to schools and colleges to show attendance, whereas they attend private coaching classes for IIT JEE and NEET as part of an understanding between the college and coaching centres. This affects the mandatory attendance norm in colleges.
The biometric system requires facial recognition and fingerprints. Attendance cannot be recorded if the student is not physically present. Students must have 75% attendance to be eligible for the state board exams. Education department officials believe that this policy decision will help regulate coaching classes.
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"The state education department making biometric attendance mandatory in colleges to curb practice of students attending private instate and neglecting regular college classes," said Sharad Gosavi, the Chairman of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.
The initiative will solve the problem of caching classes collaborating with smaller junior colleges to manipulate student attendance records, he added. Students in Mumbai, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Amravati and Latur begin preparing for entrance exams like NEET, JEE and MHT-CET from Std XI and enrol in private coaching classes.