The Ministry of Education is moving towards introducing fingerprint attendance in schools, after it completed signing the contract with the supplying company, while the public education sector in the ministry, most of which were against its implementation, preferring to maintain the current situation.
An official source confirmed to Al-Rai that “most regions have not yet been informed of the date of installing the devices, although it is expected to be within weeks, but even if that happens, this is expected because the ministry did not cancel the tender in the first place, and continued the procedures for awarding the contract.
“This decision requires several procedures before its implementation, the most important of which is adopting the organizational structure of schools, defining tasks and responsibilities for some jobs, and determining the subordination of some of them, and this is unlikely during the current academic year.”
“The Ministry of Education made promises to the Teachers’ Association regarding not applying fingerprinting to teachers, because the nature of their work differs from other government jobs that are subject to the provisions and regulations of the Civil Service Commission,” pointing out that “the teaching profession is one of the arduous professions, unlike other jobs,” say sources.
The letter issued by the former Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad Al-Adwani, to the Civil Service Commission rejects equaling jobs of teachers with other professions, in addition to including some obstacles related to the structure of schools and the difficulty of applying fingerprinting.”
