Telangana private degree colleges to implement facial recognition attendance

Telangana will implement facial recognition-based attendance in all private degree colleges from 2026–27 to ensure accurate tracking. Colleges must comply with DOST admission rules, adopt AI-enabled learning support, and may face action for non-compliance.

Hyderabad: The State government has decided to make a facial recognition-based attendance system mandatory in all private degree colleges from the forthcoming academic year to ensure accurate attendance tracking, besides enhancing student welfare.

All higher education institutions have to strictly enforce mandatory attendance for students and accordingly, the universities will shortly issue directions to all colleges under their jurisdiction to ensure strict compliance with this directive.

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These decisions were taken during the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) meeting convened by Education department Secretary Yogita Rana with TGCHE Chairman Prof V Balakista Reddy, Commissioner of Technical and Collegiate Education A Sridevasena and Vice Chancellors of six universities at Secretariat here on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Prof Balakista Reddy highlighted the introduction of new innovative UG courses from the academic year 2026–27 and informed that extensive consultative meetings had already been held with Vice-Chancellors, subject experts, deans, and stakeholders.

He emphasised that colleges must enter into MoUs for student internships, while TGCHE will provide approved syllabus structures through universities. Additionally, comprehensive learning materials along with AI-enabled tutor support will be developed by TGCHE and hosted on the official website, he said.

It was resolved that in colleges where admissions through the Degree Online Services Telangana (DOST) were less than or equal to 15 per cent, students may be permitted to opt for sliding to other colleges to secure better opportunities. Colleges admitting students outside the DOST system were instructed to strictly adhere to the DOST schedule and route all such admissions through the DOST system to ensure transparency and uniformity.

In case of non-compliance, the DOST Convenor and the Vice-Chancellor, Osmania University, will issue show cause notices to such defaulting colleges, sources said.

The meeting resolved to review the existing bucket system and decided to constitute a committee, which will examine the current framework in Telangana and neighbouring states and recommend necessary revisions for the next academic year.