Online admissions set to be messy, yet again Schools miss Apr 30 deadline for training staff, students

Online admissions set to be messy, yet again

Schools miss Apr 30 deadline for training staff, students

The confusion that has been accompanying the online admission for the past three years is likely to spill onto this year too. For, while the online admission website is likely to open for students in mid-May, most schools have said they won’t be able to train their students in the procedure before June. As per the experts in the review panel, the FYJC online admission process has been drawing flak because students tend to make several mistakes while filling up the online forms, with errors in the option form, where they fill in the wrong college codes or do not list enough options, topping the list. TA Shiware, principal of the KPB Hinduja College and a panel member, admitted that training students and education officers in filling application and option forms was crucial to the success of the online process. Any student making a mistake in the form gets eliminated from the admission process or ends up in a wrong college. A government resolution based on the review panel’s recommendations had specifically asked schools to train teachers, computer operators and principals before April 30. ‘’In that case, students could have practised filling up the forms at their home. But if schools train students only in June, they won’t get enough time to get acquainted with the process and are again likely to make mistakes,’’ Shiware said. However, principals like Sangeeta Srivastava of the SVP School at Kandivli complained having got the instruction manuals from the state education department only after April 28, thus giving them barely two days to train their staff before the April 30 deadline. Schools that did try to hold training sessions recently noticed a poor turnout of students. The principal of Shardashram school, KR Shirsat, said, ‘’We conducted a session as soon as we got the books, but very few students turned up as they may not have been in town during vacation.’’ While admitting to “slight delay in procuring the books”, a senior education department official said, ‘’The distribution has already started and the training for principals of non-state board schools, including CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and IB, are likely to be held on June 14.”