Teachers Slam Risky GIS App Mandate

With the academic year-end workload already peaking, teachers across Maharashtra are facing additional stress over a last-minute directive from the state school education department to complete Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of school infrastructure by April 25.

- Niraj Pandit

MUMBAI:

The process requires uploading photographs of school facilities—such as name boards, classrooms, toilets, kitchen sheds, and drinking water sources—through a government app called Maha School GIS 1.0. However, the app is not available on the Google Play Store. Instead, an Android Package Kit (APK) file was circulated by the government for manual installation, prompting serious safety concerns.

"To install the APK, we were asked to allow apps from unknown sources, which compromises the security of our phones," said a teacher from Thane district. "The instructions were sent late Friday night via WhatsApp groups run by district education officers, and we were expected to begin work the very next day."