DCI has been insisting on biometric report of faculty attendance and monitoring through CCTV for eight years
In stead of students being pulled up for bunking classes, this time teachers are facing the music. Cracking a whip on erring private and public dental colleges across India, regulatory body Dental Council Of India (DCI) has given a warning letter to all Deans and Principals to furnish quarterly biometric attendance reports of their faculty.
DCI sent out a fresh circular to 85 dental colleges across India two weeks ago, including leading institutes like state-run Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) in New Delhi and Government Dental College in Mumbai, Maharashtra to make the quarterly biometric attendance report of their faculty available within 21 days failing which necessary action would be initiated against them under Dentists Act, 1948.
Since 2013, five warning letters have been issued to these colleges to produce an attendance report of faculty, the circular states.
Dr Mahesh Varma, Director, MAIDS said the institute is regulated by the government while the circular is for private colleges. On pointing out that the list includes erring government colleges as well, he said the biometric report will now be furnished to DCI.
DCI for eight years has been insisting on biometric reporting of attendance and monitoring through CCTV footage to ensure that faculty members in public or private hospitals are not shirking work, or that the dental college is not running short of staff.
Earlier this year in a DCI inspection of Gurunanak Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, it was found that a Group D employee was made to pose as the Head of Department for Community Medicine.
"Gurunanak Institute later had to recruit 8 clinical tutors, 4 associate professors and 3 senior lecturers to comply with the norms. DCI has become extremely strict in terms of maintaining adequate teaching faculty for running the college. Most colleges, be it public or private are understaffed and therefore furnishing attendance reports becomes crucial," said a senior doctor working in the private institute.
While DCI had earlier ensured installation of biometrics in each college, eight years back, the system infrastructurally fell through. "There are now technical difficulties in individual colleges to maintain biometric attendance systems. However, as far as our institute is concerned it is government-run, our teachers are working, they take lectures, practicals and clinic regularly," quipped Dr Mansingh Pawar, dean of Government Dental College, Maharashtra who is also a Member of General Body in DCI.
MEASURES
- DCI has been insisting on biometric report of faculty attendance and monitoring through CCTV for eight years.
- Since 2013, DCI has issued five warning letters to these colleges.
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