Insufficient training in schools makes online process a struggle

Aditya Basu filled his junior college application form exactly the way his school had instructed him to do last Friday. Unfortunately, this was completely the reverse of how it was meant to be done. Bhavya Dore and Deepti Khera report.

Aditya Basu filled his junior college application form exactly the way his school had instructed him to do last Friday. Unfortunately, this was completely the reverse of how it was meant to be done.

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“Luckily, I read the instructions and informed my school of the error,” said Basu, a student of a school in the western suburbs.

Guidance centres set up by the education department have been burdened with helping some students fill the online forms as their schools were unable to furnish them with the right information. The centres were largely set up to cater to private candidates and outstation students.

“Most of the principals from CBSE and ICSE schools do not come for training sessions,” said PR Pawar, education inspector, west zone. “They do not know how to fill in the forms.”

The worst offenders, say education department officials, are CBSE and ICSE schools. A guidance centre official in south Mumbai said students from nearby Kendriya Vidyalayas had come seeking help. “Schools should approve and verify the forms,” said the official. “When asked, they merely say students didn’t come to them.”