The future of more than three lakh students at government and private schools in Gujarat is in jeopardy. The online portal for the application of scholarships has not been not working and the government has no answer.
The State Examination Board awards scholarships to deserving students of grades VI to X in government and private schools. The process entails a qualifying exam but the server to enrol for the exam has been dysfunctional for a while. Hence, at stake is the future of an estimated three lakh students. When contacted, the State Education Board which is directly responsible for maintenance of the server, washed its hands off the lapse and blamed iNDEXTb.
The Primary Scholarship Exam is undertaken by grade VI students in state-run and private schools. More than 80,000 students are appearing in the National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMS) for grade VIII students. In addition, about 95,000 students appear for the scholarship exam from grade X. Filling of student forms for these two examinations started on December 6 and December 31, respectively.
However, with the server down, the state school administrators have been left with no choice. The application and payment have to be done online as per the arrangement made by the SEB. However, the schools cannot apply due to the server not working.
Three helpline numbers have been provided for complaints in this regard. The first helpline number has a recorded answer that the site is still working. The second number goes unanswered while the third number is answered but then ends with that.
The matter has not been resolved despite repeated representations by schools to concerned in-house departments and to the government. When asked, SEB chairman Praful Jalu passed on the buck to secretary Mehul Vyas. For his part, Mr Vyas reasoned that all online operations are handled by iNDEXTb department.
