Bengaluru: In a significant digital shift, the government has announced that starting from the 2025–26 academic year, all government and aided schools across the state will adopt an AI-based facial recognition system for student attendance. This new initiative, approved by the School Education and Literacy Department, will replace the traditional roll-call method currently used in classrooms.

Under this system, instead of calling out names and marking attendance manually, teachers will now use their mobile devices to capture student photographs. The photos will be automatically matched with pre-fed student data such as names and class details. Once the image is captured, the app will log the attendance instantly, including time stamps, and transmit the data directly to the central education department servers.

This mobile-based AI-driven facial recognition attendance system will be implemented in 52,686 government and aided schools under the Niranthara (continuous) project. The move is expected to impact more than 52 lakh students, including over 40.7 lakh from government schools and 11.8 lakh from aided institutions.

The project, estimated at a cost of ₹5 crore, will be managed through the Karnataka State Data Centre (KSDC). A dedicated software platform is also being developed to ensure data security and privacy, as emphasized by the Education Department.

The department highlights several benefits of this smart attendance system. It will eliminate issues associated with manual attendance, such as errors and the potential for fake entries. Real-time and accurate attendance data will not only help in day-to-day monitoring but also ensure transparency in distributing student incentives and funding allocations. It will also help prevent the misuse of funds disbursed based on inflated attendance numbers.

Daily, real-time data will allow authorities to monitor attendance patterns at any school and take prompt action if irregularities are noticed. This shift is also expected to improve the overall administrative efficiency and integrity of the state’s educational infrastructure.

In short, from the coming academic year, the first period at school will no longer begin with a teacher calling out names from a register. Instead, a quick photo on a mobile app will confirm who is present, who is absent, and instantly notify the education department headquarters—bringing both transparency and accountability to the school attendance process.