Mangaluru: The lecturers will no longer have to call out students’ names during attendance roll calls as face recognition-based attendance is set to become mandatory in state govt pre-university colleges by the end of June.The department of pre-university education (DPUE) will begin the statewide rollout in govt PU colleges first, and later extend it to aided colleges once the system stabilises.Bharath S, director of DPUE, Bengaluru, said that the move is intended to replace the current manual method of attendance-taking, which lecturers say consumes valuable classroom time and can be inconsistent. “The attendance is recorded by taking a group of the class and uploaded online,” he said, adding that the initiative will help improve tracking and allow the department to monitor absenteeism directly.Govt PU colleges recorded 2.8 lakh students last year across I and II PUC, and officials expect the new system to cover a similar number as admissions for the new academic year continue. The department said implementation is already under progress, and is expected to be completed across the state by the end of June. The system was first tested as a pilot at a govt PU college on 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, in Bengaluru.To support the transition, DPUE has started special training sessions for lecturers. Two lecturers from each college have been trained and will act as resource persons to train other staff members within their institutions. Department officials said technical constraints prevent simultaneous implementation across govt and aided colleges, leading to the phased approach.The decision comes amid concerns about academic performance among govt college students reflected in this year’s II PU results. Department sources indicated that enforcement of the 75% attendance requirement was relaxed in some places, allowing students with low attendance to sit for examinations, which affected outcomes. Lecturers also flagged that manual attendance procedures were taking up significant teaching time.Under the new system, attendance is expected to be completed within minutes. Lecturers will use a mobile application to register students and capture two photographs of the class each day. These images will be processed through face recognition to mark attendance, and the data will be transmitted directly to the department using AI-enabled tools for centralised monitoring.Officials said the system is also aimed at preventing proxy attendance and addressing reports from some districts where students allegedly skipped regular classes to attend coaching centres. By generating accurate absenteeism records, the department expects to identify patterns early and intervene to bring students back into classrooms.
