Teachers in Barabanki had started taking their selfies before stepping into their classrooms.

An order asking government primary school teachers in Uttar Pradesh to follow a new attendance rule and click selfies to mark their daily attendance has been withdrawn, the government said today.

Speaking in the Legislative Council during the Zero Hour on an adjournment notice, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Basic Education Anupama Jaiswal said: "The order pertaining to cutting the day's salary of teachers of government primary schools for not sending their selfie during the morning assembly has been withdrawn."

The matter was raised by teachers group MLCs Om Prakash Sharma, Hem Singh Pundir and others, who said that the system of sending the selfie has provisions of encouragement and also punishment, which is wrong.

"The people of the villages used to complain that the teachers did not come on time. Hence, the selfie system was implemented in the schools. The government is with the teachers and will never insult them," Mr Jaiswal said.

Flooded with complaints about absent teachers in primary schools, officials in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district had introduced the new attendance rule. The teachers started taking their selfies before stepping into their classrooms. They then posted their picture on the official pages of their city's Basic Shiksha Adhikari before 8 am.