The state secondary education board has said teachers at government and government-aided schools have to reach school by 10.35am.
The order, which followed complaints that a section of teachers is routinely late, came into effect on January 2.
If teachers in the junior high school (Classes VI to VIII) and secondary (Classes IX to X) levels reach school after 10.50am, they will be marked “late”.
The board in a recent notification said the “appointed hour”, which means the time by which a teaching or non-teaching staff member has to reach school, will be 10.35am.
The notice says: “It is mandatory for the head of the institution and all staff of the schools (teaching and non-teaching) to attend the prayer assembly (10.40 to 10.50 hours) and they will be marked late if they arrive after 10.50am. The appointed hour of the school shall be 15 minutes before the commencement of class teaching.”
The notice says: “Teaching and non-teaching staff will be marked absent if they arrive later than 11.15am.”
The notice also mentions: “On no account, can the teaching and non-teaching staff leave the school premises before 4.30pm, if not on official assignment….”
Asked what made them come up with specific guidelines on the arrival and dispersal schedule of teachers, secondary education board president Ramanuj Ganguly said: “We are trying to improve the system based on our experience.... We have made clear what is the appointed hour, at what time class will start and what constitutes ‘a late mark’. This has to be followed.”
“Earlier, we would mark a teacher ‘absent’ if he or she came after 11.05am. Now this has been pushed back by 10 more minutes as part of our attempt to utilise resources at the optimum level,” said Ganguly.
A board official said if they mark a teacher absent, students miss out on classes.
“By extending the time from 11.05am to 11.15, we wanted to make sure fewer teachers are marked absent. We are anyway facing a shortage of teachers as there has been no recruitment over the past few years,” the official said.
Education minister Bratya Basu had said in early December that 14,339 posts were vacant at the upper primary level. The vacancy count stands at 13,500 at the secondary level.