Manual registers maintained by schools to be digitized

At present, each government school maintains more than 15 registers meant for students and teachers. These include registers on freebies, school development fund, library, non-teaching staff, and school management committee document, students’ healthcare cards, and lab book.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that though Education Management Information System (EMIS), the online platform connecting schools, teachers, and students, was put in place, headmasters and non-teaching staff have only limited options for storing data in it.

“Due to lesser number of non-teaching staff in many government schools, especially those in the rural areas, the manual registers are maintained by the teachers. This is not only an extra burden for them but also the additional work that affects the academic activities,” he said. Considering that all government schools across the State, numbering more than 46,000, have desktop computers, it was decided to digitize all manual documents, the official added.

During the first phase of the online system project, the existing manual data would be digitized. “At present, referring to the old documents consumes a lot of time. Also, many schools don’t have proper storage facilities or required space to keep the registers safe,” he said.

Before putting the online registration facility in place, the authorities would ensure that all schools have computers and internet connections, the official added. The department has also identified some of the manual registers that are no longer useful, which would not be maintained in the future.

The State government’s information technology wing would be entrusted the task of digitizing the manual system, the official said, adding that the online, user-friendly software that would be developed could be accessed by school staff especially headmasters and linked with the EMIS.