The Ministry of Education continued its efforts to follow up the implementation of the fingerprint attendance system in public schools, which started on an experimental basis last Sunday, reports Al-Anba daily. Educational sector sources revealed to the Daily that on the first day; the concerned authorities in the ministry monitored 400,000 fingerprinting operations for teachers, indicating that it was observed that a teacher made the fingerprint attendance more than once as the system does not accept it.

Sources confirmed that the Technical Committee at the Information Systems Center is working hard to address all problems, explaining that the signing of timesheets for entry and departure continues to protect the rights of teachers. Sources said fingerprinting will not be applied permanently without ensuring that all procedures are correct. “We are currently in a trial period to find out the negatives, if any, and address them,” sources added. In another context, the ministry granted the periodic bonus to its employees, including teachers and administrators, which was scheduled for January but it was postponed.

Sources said the Administrative Sector has completed the review and verification procedures for the names eligible for the bonus, which reached approximately 20,000 teachers and administrators, indicating that the bonus will be paid retroactively to the ministry’s employees in public and assistant positions. Sources that some employees will be paid this month and others in March, noting that there are employees whose salaries have been approved for the current month so there was no time to add the bonus.