Indian Express: New Delhi: Monday, December 25, 2017.
Even as
several groups of Delhi University (DU) teachers have expressed their
reservation over an app-based attendance system started as a pilot project in
some colleges, an RTI filed by a teacher of DU’s Acharya Narendra Dev College
(ANDC) has revealed that the college spent nearly Rs 60 lakh on a software Entrance
Resource Planning (ERP) used primarily for marking attendance.
The RTI filed
by former Academic Council (AC) member and Zoology teacher Monica Misra
revealed that the college spent Rs 59,97,568 between purchase of the software
in 2014 and September this year. This includes the salary paid to the
transformation manager. The software was purchased through an MoU with Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS).
“We are not
even sure what the ERP is because it was installed without any discussion with
the stakeholders. It is supposed to be for more than attendance such as forming
timetables, etc but none of that is happening,” Misra said. “It is only
functional at the library; accounts and administration departments are not
using it. This is a waste of public money.”
But calling
opposition to the software “political” in nature, college Principal Savithri
Singh said, “I don’t remember the cost but it has happened over three years.
The system does much more than (record) attendance…. It’s not an exorbitant
amount considering the number of students we have and the annual cost.”
“Initially,
we utilised some money from the UGC funds but the college is paying the rest.
We have among the lowest fee structure among DU colleges, so it’s not like we
are fleecing students,” she said.
According to
the RTI reply, Rs 9,61,400 was spent on the ERP in 2014-15; Rs 14,42,100 in
2015-2016; a similar amount in 2016-17; and Rs 10,08,100 till September this
year. The total figure also includes a one-time deployment fee of Rs 4,26,968,
and Rs 6,44,000 in salary to the transformation manager.
“The
transformation manager is not even an employee of the college but he is being
paid from the college fund since 2015. This system does not work they had tried
using it during the student council election but it failed. In the end they had
to use paper voting,” another ANDC teacher said.
Principal
Singh said, “By implementing this system, we want to move everything online. We
have got approval from the Governing Body. This was also one of the reasons we
got a higher NAAC grade (over) St Stephen’s.”
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