DoSE urges teachers,staff to diligently use SMILE app

Department of School Education (DoSE) has notified all the teachers and staff under the department to diligently use the Smart Attendance Management & Informative Leaves (SMILE) App, also known as Teacher Attendance Monitoring System (TAMS). The App is a pioneering initiative under NECTAR project, implemented by the DoSE with the support of the World Bank.
In a press release, principal director school education & NEP-The Lighthouse (NECTAR) project director, Shashank Pratap Singh, informed that in order to strengthen the initiative, the department, through the NECTAR project, provided tablet devices for all government schools and education establishments at the blocks, sub-divisions and district headquarters. Singh said those devices serve as dedicated kiosks for marking attendance. The App also works on all Android and iOS smart phones.
NECTAR project director said the SMILE App went live on February 1, 2025, making it mandatory for all employees under the school education to mark their attendance using the SMILE App.
During the initial rollout, he said users experienced several issues including poor application performance, high dependence on internet connectivity and long loading time due to heavy server traffic.
As a result, Singh said users often had to make multiple attempts to mark the attendance with a low success rate.
However, he said that since February, the SMILE app development team had been actively addressing the issues. Singh said 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, he said the SMILE App could occasionally face technical glitches which should not discourage its usage.
NECTAR project director disclosed that from February 1 to June 30, out of a total of 2,002 schools and establishments (data as of July 1, 2025), 132 schools and five establishments have achieved attendance above 80%.
However, he said that 27 schools have not marked any attendance, and 1,525 teachers and employees have not marked attendance even once during the same period.
Singh said the number of schools and establishments with below 50% attendance was 1,071. NECTAR project director said it had been observed that many employees have attempted to mark their attendance using methods that fall under “suspicious” category.
Taking cognisance of the above issues, the department has notified that attendance was being closely monitored.
The department cautioned that action would be initiated against defaulting employees and schools.
In this regard, the department has directed heads of institutions to be more vigilant to ensure regular usage. In areas where there is no internet connectivity, the department said SMILE App coordinator must take the kiosk tablet to a networked area every 30 days.
For redressal of any issue, users could avail helplines: 8974102488 / 6909644519.