Faces Behind NECTAR

This section features NECTAR officials in various roles to familiarise readers with the individuals and the purpose behind the project’s initiatives and interventions, as well as the strides made so far.

In this edition, we connect with two Project Coordinators from the Directorate of School Education (DoSE) to update us on the different aspects of the SMILE App implementation.

Q1. Kindly describe your role at NECTAR?

A: As a full-time Project Coordinator, I oversee various initiatives and activities under NECTAR by facilitating communication among firms, stakeholders and sister departments. I have also been entrusted with handling the implementation of the Smart Attendance Management and Informative Leaves (SMILE).

Q2. What are the objectives of implementing the SMILE App?

A: The SMILE App functions broadly at three levels with the following objectives:

Employee level

• To enable all DoSE employees to mark their attendance in online or offline mode at their workplace.
• To enable employees to track their real-time attendance, file for leave and regularise attendance on the SMILE App at their convenient time and place.
• To enable employees to view their up-to-date profile.

System administration level

• To enable the administration to monitor staff attendance, leave applications and to regularise attendance without paperwork.
• To provide the administration with reliable information for efficient management of employees.

Department level

• To enable policymakers to observe employee regularity, the duration of their presence at work, and to identify proxy employees.
• To enable policymakers to make accurate decisions by relying on real-time data.

Q3. Could you elaborate on the extensive groundwork carried out by NECTAR for gathering employee data that involved inter-departmental collaboration (Economics & Statistics, IT&C, District Administration, etc.) from the inception to the present stage of operation?

A: All categories of employee data were captured from their respective Educational Block Resource Centres (EBRC) in the presence of district field officers such as DEO/Sr. SDEO/SDEO/ADEO, EBRC Coordinators/ToTs and District Administration. Employment details such as appointment order, regularisation order, extension orders, transfer orders and service book were validated by the officials and a master selfie was captured to be incorporated on the SMILE Application. The whole process for all the districts consisting of 46 EBRC blocks including DoSE took about seven months starting from April 2023. The capturing of employee data is an ongoing process for the newly appointed employees, carried out at the Directorate of School Education, Kohima.

Q4. The implementation of a statewide digital system for attendance marking and leave management is fraught with technological and administrative challenges. What are some of the main challenges and how is NECTAR addressing them?

A: The poor network connectivity in some rural areas is a major setback. The Smile App, which is still in the development process, faces significant technical issues such as location detection, facial recognition, time stamping, and also synchronisation of offline data. Additionally, the lack of technical knowledge among school and establishment heads makes strict enforcement a significant challenge.

Capacity building has been provided to the SMILE App Coordinators from all schools and establishments nominated by their respective heads. Training sessions were conducted for these coordinators in their respective EBRCs, and a tablet was provided to serve as a kiosk device for smooth attendance marking. Furthermore, three telephone helplines have been activated to address the issues faced by employees.

Q5. Could you shed some light on the upcoming HR/Data Cell?

A: The recently established HR/Data Cell was funded by NECTAR, which provided state-of-the-art equipment to the Department. A total of 18 personnel have been nominated by the Department to operate the cell, which is headed by the Additional Director. The cell will monitor the attendance of employees and submit timely reports to the Department for policymaking. It will update employee data in the system and provide real-time data to the Department as and when required. 

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Q1. When did you join NECTAR? Kindly describe your role in the project.

A: I officially joined NECTAR as Project Coordinator on 24 June 2024. However, my involvement with the project dates back to its conceptualisation phase. I had the opportunity to engage with World Bank officials during multiple discussions in 2018–19. Due to significant departmental responsibilities at the time, I did not take on an active role during the project’s initial implementation. Nonetheless, I have been associated with the TAMS (now SMILE App) team since its inception and continue to contribute actively. My primary responsibility in the project is overseeing its data components, with a current focus on managing the SMILE App and Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Q2. Through the SMILE App initiative, comprehensive data of all Directorate of School Education (DoSE) employees and Government schools was collected. Could you provide a broad breakdown by category, such as the number of Government schools (GPS, GHS, GHSS), number of teachers (PT, GT, PGT), and number of administrative/non-teaching employees, among others?

A:  School education data is highly dynamic, with frequent changes occurring each year due to the upgrading, downgrading, merging, or closing of schools. As of 4 April 2025, the state has 56 Government Higher Secondary Schools (GHSS), 244 Government High Schools (GHS), 538 Government Middle Schools (GMS), and 1,059 Government Primary Schools (GPS), totalling 1,897 state-run schools.

In terms of human resources, the number of employees also reflects significant diversity. As of 16 April 2025, the DoSE has 22,027 employees, which includes 674 Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs), 4,831 Graduate Teachers (GTs), 9,203 Primary Teachers (PTs), and 2,075 Hindi Teachers, among others.

Q3. With NECTAR’s support, the Department of School Education (DSE) is developing a rich and robust database At the same time, the Ministry of Education also extensively captures school education data annually through UDISE+. This results in two sets of data that do not always correspond with each other. How does the DSE reconcile the two?

A: UDISE+ data is collected as per the national schedule and reflects the previous academic year, making it less suitable for current-year planning. To address this, the Department through NECTAR has introduced real-time data collection through SMILE and EMIS. While UDISE+ provides retrospective data, SMILE and EMIS offer current insights, making both datasets complementary rather than conflicting.

Q4. With the implementation of the SMILE App since February 2025, what are some statistical findings (app usage patterns, district characteristics, rural vs urban, etc.) that bear mentioning?  

A: A total of 22,027 employees have registered on the SMILE App. Of these, 71% are posted in rural areas, while 29% are in urban areas.

Currently, about 80% of employees actively use the app. Among the districts, Mokokchung (92%), Chümoukedima (89%), and Noklak (88%) record the highest app usage rates. In contrast, Kohima, Longleng, and Zunheboto are at the lower end, each with an app usage rate of 71%.

Regarding app usage by location, 81% of employees posted in rural areas are using the SMILE App, whereas only 75% of employees posted in urban areas are active users.

Q5. How is the data collected through the SMILE App initiative informing the planning and decision-making of NECTAR in particular and the DSE in general?

A: Since data collected through the SMILE App is in real time, it significantly supports the Department in academic monitoring, teacher rationalisation, and day-to-day administrative decision-making, among other areas.

The SMILE App currently captures limited information, as it was initially developed solely for managing employee attendance. However, once EMIS becomes fully functional, it will greatly benefit the Department by providing comprehensive data on teachers, students, and various school-related parameters.