Chandigarh, 31 January 2025: Chandigarh has become the first city in India to implement an AI-powered attendance system for staff in government schools, marking a significant step toward digital governance in education.
The UT Education Department officially launched the AadhaarBAS app on Friday following a soft launch a day earlier to refine the system.
All government school employees are now required to use the AadhaarBAS app, which operates through Aadhaar-based authentication and geo-fencing. Geo-fencing, a technology that creates a virtual geographic boundary, ensures that attendance can only be marked within the school premises.
Staff must upload a real-time picture via the app, verifying their presence during shift hours.
The app, developed by the Aadhaar government agency, has been integrated with school attendance systems and linked to the Vidya Sameeksha Kendra, the education department’s monitoring hub.
UT Director of School Education Harsuhinderpal Singh Brar stated that the initiative aims to streamline attendance tracking, reduce paperwork, and expedite salary payments.
“This system will bring transparency to the attendance process,” Brar mentioned. “It creates an electronic database for authentication, saving time and improving efficiency.”
He also clarified that attendance must be marked in person, within school premises, and that the department had already digitized the leave application process starting February 1.
The initiative is part of a broader push toward AI-driven school management.
The department is also working on an AI-based app to assess meal quality under the PM Poshan scheme and incorporating AI into the Swachhta Monitoring App to track school cleanliness, particularly washroom hygiene.
With 111 government schools and around 5,000 teachers across Chandigarh, the introduction of AI-based attendance marks a significant shift in how school operations are managed.