Sindh to launch facial attendance system in educational institutions

KARACHI: The Sindh School Education Department has completed preparations for the launch of the Facial Recognition Attendance Monitoring and Evaluation System (FRAMES) in government schools across the province.

The pilot phase of the system will formally begin on August 17 in six districts of Sindh.

For the pilot phase, one district from each division has been selected. The districts include Karachi East, Hyderabad, Naushehro Feroze, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Umerkot.

In the initial phase, the attendance of 49,565 teaching and non-teaching staff members in these districts will be monitored through FRAMES.

Sindh Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah said that FRAMES was being launched initially as a pilot initiative in the six districts. Based on the results and experience of the pilot phase, the system would gradually be expanded to all districts of Sindh.

The provincial minister said FRAMES was not merely an attendance system but an effective mechanism to ensure that students have access to teachers at schools.

He added that the application had been designed to be user-friendly, while a proper mechanism had also been established to identify, monitor and resolve potential technical issues in a timely manner.

Attendance through FRAMES will be recorded using facial recognition technology. Teachers will not necessarily need to have a personal mobile phone and can mark their attendance using the mobile phone of the headmaster or a colleague.

Attendance can also be recorded in the absence of an internet connection and will automatically be updated once internet connectivity becomes available.