Education dept to reform process of applications for new schools

Bengaluru: The application process for new schools, renewal of recognition, and issuing of no-objection certificates for affiliation with the central curriculum will be revised, according to the department of school education and literacy. The administrative procedures involved should become simpler as a result of the improvements.

Private school administrations have brought up the problem of corruption in this sector on a number of occasions. Applications must be posted directly to the DDPI on the department website in accordance with the changes. They had to be submitted to the BEO beforehand.

The administration is required to post geotagged images and videos of the school's infrastructure and facilities, according to a departmental announcement. For this, the SATS software is being updated. The software will choose a random sample of schools for physical examination. The processing of the other schools will be based on online document submission. There will be no outside assistance throughout the randomization process because it is being handled totally by the programme.

False document submitters will face harsher penalties and be prohibited from registering as schools in the future. Information will be available for public examination and schools can track the development online. Only five administrative levels and between 15 and 25 days will be required for the jurisdictional DDPI to receive and process applications. According to the announcement, this represents a significant reduction from the current system of eight steps and 35 days.