City schools gear up for student verification census
Days after the Maharashtra government ordered a state-wide
verification of student rolls in all government-aided schools; the collector’s office
has issued a circular for all city schools based on the recent Government Resolution
(GR). According to this circular, a census will be undertaken in all
the government-aided schools in Mumbai between October 3 and 5 to determine the
total number of students as well as teachers present in each school.
On Tuesday morning, principals from around 40-50 schools in the west zone got together
at St. Xavier’s High School and Junior College, Vile Parle (E), to discuss the GR.
"The collector’s office has already appointed 1,500 staff members for this purpose,"
said one of the education inspectors present at the meeting. The GR clearly states
that schools will have to remain open on all three days of inspection and students
as well as teachers have been asked to remain present for this purpose.
"Three officials have been appointed for every batch of 700 students. The circular
sent to schools has an attachment which states the procedure that school authorities
need to follow during this survey," added the officer. Schools have also been asked
to shift their examinations, if any, scheduled to be held on these three dates.
"We found that many schools don’t even have the expected number of teachers, yet
they are asking for all the salary money. This survey will cover teachers in schools
so that we get a clearer picture," said a senior official from the collector’s office.
An unexpected survey in Nanded recently revealed that 1.4 lakh of the 7 lakh students
who were on the rolls in schools in the district did not exist at all. Chief minister
Prithviraj Chavan immediately ordered for a state-wide survey in order to avoid
such cases in other districts.
Courtesy: Times of India
