Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 7: In a brazen display of hypocrisy, the office of Chief Education Officer Jammu has sought explanation of hundreds of teachers and heads of schools for their alleged absence on the official attendance portal on August 5, 2025, notwithstanding the fact that CEO Jammu as well as more than a dozen staff members of his office were also marked absent in the JK Smart Attendance sheet of the School Education Department, on the same day.
According to the official communication by the office of Chief Education Officer Jammu to Principals/ ZEOs / Headmasters, vide number CEOJ/8822-27, dated 06-08-2025, 960 officials (Principals/ Headmasters/ Lecturers/ Masters/ Teachers/Non-teaching staff/staff posted in offices) have been directed to explain the reasons for not marking their attendance on J&K Attendance app on August 5, 2025.
“It has been found that some officials have not marked their attendance on JK Attendance app on 05-08-2025, which is seriously viewed by the Monitoring Authority,” read the communiqué.
Besides, the heads of 47 institutions have also been directed to explain their position with regard to the reasons for not marking attendance of students by teachers of their schools on the attendance app.
As the CEO office has warned action if the replies to these explanations are not submitted within two days, the order has triggered strong resentment among the teachers and heads of the institutions who claimed no error on their part and said that there was some technical glitch behind little delay in marking of attendance on the app.
“If there was little delay in marking the attendance due to technical glitch, authorities should have issued a circular directing to ensure timely marking of attendance on the app, but seeking explanation is virtual harassment of teachers and heads of institutions,” they said.
They also produced the J&K Smart Attendance sheet of the School Education Department, which clearly mentions that CEO Jammu, Ajeet Sharma and 17 officials of the CEO office were also absent on the same day (Aug 5, 2025) as their attendance was not marked on the official portal.
“They (CEO Jammu and his staff) marked their attendance later on but have been seeking explanation from others just to harass the teachers and heads of institutions,” said a Principal, adding that he never faced such situation in his 34 years of service when explanation was sought from him.
Several teachers alleged that instead of focusing on real issues, such as rationalization to do away with skewed PTR in school for judicious use of human resources and to overcome the deficiency of teaching staff in the schools, higher authorities were adopting the means to harass the teaching staff.
“During a high level meeting of the School Education Department on June 25, Education Minister Sakeena Itoo has issued several instructions to both the Directors for rationalization of teachers by July 10 and streamlining the system, but nothing has been done in this regard,” said the aggrieved teachers.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
