The Andhra Pradesh government teachers have asked the government to supply mobile phones to use the mobile application for attendance. The teachers have been refusing to give facial attendance in the mobile application introduced by the government.

The teachers’ unions leaders held a brief discussion with Minister for Education Botsa Satyannarayana in the Velagapudi secretariat on Thursday. They said that they would not use their personal mobiles for attendance.

The Minister told them that the government is planning to introduce the mobile application for attendance in all the departments shortly. He further said that it was not possible for the government to buy mobiles for all the government employees. He told them that it would cost Rs 200 crore to the exchequer.

The Minister wanted the teachers to use their own mobiles for attendance and insisted that they have to follow the rule. He told them that the technical issues in using the mobile application would be solved and till then attendance discrepancies would be rectified.

The teachers told the Minister that there are signal related issues besides technical issues. The mobile network is either too weak or unavailable in several parts of the state, where the teachers are working, the union leaders told the minister.

The Minister told them that all these issues would be taken up in a phased manner and asked the teachers to start using their mobiles.

The union leaders then left stating that they would come back and meet the minister once again in the next 10 to 15 days. The union leaders also said that they would speak to the teachers and take their views before taking a call on the issue.