Admissions to govt, aided schools to go online, ensure accountability

CHENNAI: Giving private schools a run for money, the state-run schools in Tamil Nadu will be adopting common online process in admitting students to classes 1 to 12, there by ensuring transparency and accountability.

At present, only a few private schools in the State boast of online admission facility.

The State move to go online with admissions for government and aided schools comes against the backdrop of complaints in enrollment process and non-availability of records when sought for. Also, the move could ease admission process and save time and energy.

Parents will be able to get their wards admitted to schools from anywhere in the State. At present there are more than 45,000 government and government-aided schools across the State, catering to about 65 lakh students.

“Online mode will help bring in efficiency and give an advantage over private school competitors,” a senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next.

“There were complaints of teachers projecting fake numbers in admission reports,” he said adding “though a probe has been initiated on this, it was felt that online process could make enrollment transparent with a centralised database”.

Stating that authorities are discussing simultaneous online admissions from classes 1 to 12, he said the initiative could be introduced in the coming academic year, ensuring centralisation of admission data.

The official said registration, acknowledgement, application verification, transfer certificate verification and shortlisting candidates will go online.

“Similarly, the software will facilitate sending SMS and messages to parents during the process of admission,” he said adding “it would also generate various reports, including state-wise, district-wise, zone-wise, school-wise admission data”.