Only govt students on EMIS eligible for welfare schemes

CHENNAI: Soon, freebies and welfare schemes will be made available only to those government school students, who have enrolled in the Educational Management Information System (EMIS), a common online platform connecting institutions, teachers, and pupils.

The School Education Department’s move has come in the backdrop of mismatch of number of admitted students this year against the existing beneficiaries.

At present, the State government has implemented a total of 17 welfare schemes benefiting over 70 lakh students.

A senior official from the Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that a circular has been issued to all government and aided schools to ensure that all details of students are uploaded on EMIS without fail.

“Only the student’s indent in EMIS will be considered for welfare schemes. All schools have been asked to complete the task on or before December 16,” he said.

The official added that all State-run schools were instructed to give special attention to uploading all the students’ details without errors. “Similarly, old student’s details will also be deleted from EMIS,” he said.

Stating that the free textbooks scheme is benefiting 74.97 lakh students of classes 1-12, the official pointed out that in order to ensure that the students’ education is not hampered over economic hurdles and social hardship, the government is implementing various welfare schemes.

The official also said since the noon-meal scheme was part of the Social Welfare Department, the schools were also asked to ensure that the list of the students should be updated in EMIS and handed over to authorities concerned. “The headmasters of the schools should cross verify the student’s data before submitting the final list on the online system,” he said, adding, that based on the verified student’s indent, freebies will be procured from the firms by floating transparent tender.”

According to the official, the State government has allocated Rs 4,200 crore for the welfare schemes (including the noon-meal project) meant for government school students including the distribution of freebies such as uniforms, school materials, and bus passes.

With regard to private schools, the official said that as the RTE-related claims and other aspects of the verification process along with the financial reconciliation have been enabled through EMIS, the management of the institutions was asked to upload the data for reimbursement.