Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The guest teachers engaged by state school education department are up in arms against the government’s decision to make e-attendance compulsory for them.
“When our salaries, facilities and perks are not at par with those of the regular teachers, how can we be subjected to the same norms,” they said. After a week-long trial, the government has made it compulsory for school teachers to record their attendance twice every working day on Education Portal 3.0 using their mobile phones.
Hamare Shikshak app is to be used for this purpose. From July 1, all teachers will be required to use GPS tracking app to record the time when they reach and leave schools.
An order dated June 26, 2025, by the director, public instructions, said guest teachers would not get honorarium for the day their attendance is not recorded on the app. There were around 1.20 lakh guest teachers in the last academic year. Of them, 79,000 worked for school education department and the rest for tribal welfare department.
According to MP Atithi Shikshak Samanvay Samiti general secretary Ravikant Gupta, regular teachers have been provided mobile phones and tablets by the government but the guest teachers are supposed to use their own Android phones or buy one if they are using feature phones.
They are paid Rs 10,000 - Rs 18,000 per month depending on their grade. “How can you expect them to spend money on buying a phone, especially when it is uncertain whether they will be re-employed next year?” Gupta demanded to know.
He said guest teachers were not entitled to maternity leave, medical reimbursement but the government was imposing all kinds of conditions on them.
There have been complaints that Hamare Shikshak app has technical issues. “Even if you record your attendance standing on the premises of your school, sometimes it shows your location at a place 2 km away,” Gupta said, adding, “government has been trying to implement e-attendance since 2016. There are so many issues with the portal and the app that the efforts have not succeeded,” he added.
About 20,000 regular school teachers are working on non-teaching posts but this year, the government has decided not to appoint guest teachers against permanent ones attached to offices.
