The Department of School Education, Kohima, has notified that the Smart Attendance Management & Informative Leaves (SMILE), also known as Teacher Attendance Monitoring System (TAMS), is a pioneering initiative under the NECTAR project, implemented by the Department of School Education, Nagaland, with the support of the World Bank. It employs advanced facial authentication technology coupled with geo-fencing to ensure that employees mark their attendance within the designated school and establishment premises. This system aims to improve accountability, transparency, and accuracy in attendance tracking throughout the state.
To strengthen the initiative, the Department, through the NECTAR project, has provided tablet devices for all government schools and education establishments at the Blocks, Sub-Divisions and District Headquarters. These devices serve as dedicated kiosks for marking attendance. The App also works on all Android and iOS smartphones.
Furthermore, the SMILE app is equipped with an offline attendance feature, enabling users in network-deficient areas to mark attendance without active internet connectivity. The app can store offline data for up to 30 days, which gets synchronized automatically upon network availability. Additionally, the application includes an attendance regularisation feature that allows users to request correction of attendance for days they were unable to mark due to technical reasons or official duties.
The SMILE APP went live on 1 February 2025, making it mandatory for all employees under the School Education to mark their attendance using the SMILE app. During the initial rollout, users experienced several issues, including poor application performance, high dependence on internet connectivity and long loading times due to heavy server traffic. As a result, users often had to make multiple attempts to mark attendance with a low success rate.
Since February, the SMILE app development team has been actively addressing the issues by continually optimising the application to enhance user experience and reliability. Technical issues faced by users have largely been resolved, and the SMILE app has undergone significant improvements in recent months. As with any IT-enabled system, the SMILE app may occasionally face technical glitches, which should not discourage its usage.
From 1 February to 30 June, out of a total of 2,002 schools and establishments (data as of 1-7-2025), 132 schools and 5 establishments have achieved attendance above 80%. However, it has been observed that 27 schools have not marked any attendance, and 1,525 teachers and employees have not marked attendance even once during the same period. The number of schools and establishments with below 50% attendance is 1,071. It has also been observed that many employees have attempted to mark their attendance using methods that fall under the “suspicious” category.
Taking cognisance of the above issues, the Department notifies that attendance is being closely monitored; therefore, it urges all teachers and staff to diligently use the SMILE app. It should be noted that action will be initiated against defaulting employees and schools. In this regard, heads of institutions are directed to be more vigilant to ensure regular usage. In areas where there is no internet connectivity, the SMILE app Coordinator must take the kiosk tablet to a networked area every 30 days. For redressal of any issue, users may avail these helplines: 8974102488 / 6909644519.
(DIPR)