Tamil ok, but why north languages in biometric, ask teachers

The system was recently introduced in the government schools for recording the attendance of the teachers.

Tamil Nadu All Teachers Federation Vellore coordinator SN Janardhanan said, “We appreciate the government’s move to include Tamil in the biometric machines. Had it been done at the time of introduction itself, unnecessary controversy could have been avoided.”

Though the machines were distributed to all 445 government and government aided high and higher secondary schools in Vellore district some months ago, it had instructions only in English. However, a week ago, Hindi was also added to the list. This move created a furore among teachers and politicians and later the Centre included Tamil, besides 8 other languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu andBengali.

When asked about the issue, sources said, “The biometric attendance machines are attached to the computer systems of the respective schools which are in turn linked to the server. Hence, including or removing languages is done from the central government’s biometric system based in the north. That is why there was immediate response to the demand to include Tamil.”

State PG teachers’ association Vellore president Rajesh Khanna said, “Problems could have been avoided if all official Indian languages were included in thebeginning.”

On the installation of the biometric devices, Vellore CEO S Mars said, “Biometric attendance systems have been provided to all high and higher secondary schools in the district, while 456 aided and government middle schools will get the machines within a month as teachers are now being trained in its use. Machines are being issued in phases and the 1424 aided and government primary schools will be covered in last leg.”