Telangana: No roll calls as govt schools adopt AI facial recognition

With just a scan on a smartphone or using a tablet’s camera, the new app recognises faces using cognitive AI functions and marks attendance in government schools at Telangana

Hyderabad: “Present, Ma’am! Absent, Sir!” Students in Telangana will no longer have to answer the routine roll call.

From the forthcoming academic year, government schools across the State are adopting an Artificial Intelligence-based facial recognition system to record students’ and teachers’ attendance, while doing away with the age-old practice of manually marking attendance in registers.

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With just a scan on a smartphone or using a tablet’s camera, the new app recognises faces using cognitive AI functions and marks attendance. It will also display the absentees’ list of a class, along with their images.

These smartphones or tablets have been installed with the Facial Recognition System (FRS) application and is loaded with individual images of students and teachers. “On scanning the classroom with the gadget, the FRS application syncs the images available in its database using the cognitive AI and marks attendance on the basis of facial point comparison,” a senior official said.

Before taking students’ attendance, the teacher should record his/her own presence in the classroom by taking a selfie using the application. Currently, the biometric attendance system has been put in place for teachers.

The new attendance system has been successfully implemented on a pilot basis at a few schools in Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts. The School Education Department has decided to extend the same to all schools in the State.

The Telangana State Technology Services Limited, on behalf of the department, recently floated a tender, inviting bids to implement and maintain the facial recognition attendance management system in government schools.

The FRS app, which also has the school’s geographical location details, can be accessed only in the school concerned. If an individual tries to access the app outside the school, it alerts the officials concerned. It will also issue alerts if an individual has continued absence, attendance below the required level or arrives late to class.

“We have procured 20,000 tablets and they have reached the district points. Schools with more than 1,000 enrollments are allotted two tablets and the others will get one each. The gadget will be used to record attendance and track mid-day meals, child information and performance details. All the information will be linked to the department’s website,” the senior official added.