A serious lapse in govt database means that kids who moved from private to civic schools during COVID are ‘missing’ and could miss the board exam
26 students from MPS Kanjurmarg are set to appear for their SSC exams this year. Pic/Satej Shinde
A financial crisis during the pandemic led to many parents shifting their children to aided and government-run schools. More than 100 such students studying at a school in Kanjurmarg now face issues as their names haven’t been transferred on the government’s SARAL portal even after two years of admission, which could lead to them losing a school year.
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Those appearing for the SSC exam this year will face complications while filling up their board exam forms as according to SARAL data, they are still students of the private schools they were studying at earlier.
The state government had issued a GR in June 2021, directing the government and aided schools not to insist on the mandatory Transfer Certificate (TC). However, the students too were not issued TCs even after two years and so their records were not updated on the SARAL portal.
SARAL (Systematic Administrative Reforms for Achievement of Learning by Students) not only collects statistics but also moves into the unchartered territory of tracking a student’s academic performance. SSC and non-SSC board schools have to register themselves on SARAL. It is a detailed database that helps schools save countless man-hours in compiling statistical reports required by the education department every quarter. This database will also be linked to the students’ Aadhar cards. According to data on the SARAL portal, so far, the Aadhar linking process for 90 per cent of students in the state has been completed. Regular updates about students by schools on SARAL are mandatory.
Talking about the case of 105 students currently studying in BMC’s Mumbai Public School at Nehru Nagar in Kanjurmarg, Nitin Dalvi, a representative and education activist from the Maharashtra State Student-Parent Teacher Federation, said the BMC’s Education Department had done a remarkable job by accommodating all such students, ensuring that not a single one is deprived of education due to non-payment of fees and allowing them admission without school leaving certificates and transfer certificates. “This move ensures that the academic year of the students was not wasted. But the names of students admitted from one school to another have to be directly transferred in the system and if this is not done there may be a problem while filling the SSC exam application form. In one such case, the names of 105 students admitted to BMC’s MPS Kanjurmarg from various private schools have not been transferred to date.”
Following complaints from parents, Dalvi wrote to the BMC’s Education Department. “After we took up the matter, Deputy Education Officer Raju Tadvi promised to take immediate action and transfer the names of the students to the system directly after verifying individual cases,” he said.
Dalvi alleged that the private schools are not cooperating with the Education Department to transfer the names of students directly to the system. “This is because these private schools are holding a grudge as the students left during the pandemic. The state Education Department should ensure that the names of all such students are directly transferred to the system. Due to complaints by a few parents, we identified cases in Kanjurmarg. It is possible there are many cases across the city, even across the state. As many changed schools during the pandemic due to financial constraints,” Dalvi said.
A parent of an affected student said, “It’s been two years since we shifted schools, but the previous school has not given us the TC and leaving certificate and neither was my son’s name transferred in SARAL. Why is the government not taking action against such schools? Today we will fight and resolve our issue, but tomorrow they might do this to others.”
“Students need to be registered at regular intervals on SARAL. Out of 105 candidates, 26 students are in standard 10 for the academic year 2023-24, including my own son. These students who are now in SSC, are facing serious problems and are likely to lose a year,” said a worried parent.
Another parent, Shweta Pawaskar said, “I shifted my daughter to MPS Kanjurmarg from a private school in Bhandup. I even paid the fees before leaving, but still, along with others, my daughter’s leaving certificate and TC have not been issued even after two years. She was in class VI when we left that school and now she is in class VIII.”
A senior teacher from MPS Kanjurmarg said unless the previous schools update the database and remove the names of these students, they cannot be added to their system. “Once we approached them to do the needful, but a few of these schools replied that we should instead pay the fees of these students and then they will issue the LC and TC,” the teacher said.
105
No. of students whose names haven’t been updated on SARAL
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