Himachal school board mulls major reforms

The students will not have to wait for a long time to get their pass certificates,mark-sheets and even examinations roll numbers for which they had to knock the doors of the board office,taking 10-15-hour bus rides. From registrations to application forms and provisional certificates,all are going to be made available online.

“The Board is in the amidst of sweeping reforms and rationalisation process in its working to cut down delays and provide instant services to the students. A Rs 4.50-crore computerisation plan is under way on a fast track mode and it will improve the board’s efficiency in basic services,” board Chairman V C Pharka,a senior IAS officer who was recently given the charge,said.

Pharka,who is also the principal secretary—Youth Services and Sports,said several things which were done manually by the board staff will be done by using latest technologies.

“ We have tied -up with the information technology department to handle some of the services through Lok-Mitra kendras,” he said.

The board will get new software developed soon which will helpful in sorting out examination forms and also issuing roll numbers. This could be done in the months of January or Feburary,much before the examination schedules.

The roll numbers along with details of the candidates and their examination centres will be posted on the website.

“Now even if the students in far-flung areas did not get their roll numbers by post,they can access the website and get it to appear in the examinations. Otherwise,they had to travel all the way to Dharamshala,” he said.

Once the examinations are over,the evaluation of the mark sheets will also be taken up immediately. The pass candidates will get facility to download their mark sheets and also certificates. They need not wait for the originals to come by post.

From next year,the board would introduce registration of the candidates in Class IX itself. This will help the board to make advance preparations for candidates appearing in the matriculation board after a year.

“We will simplify the examination forms,where the candidate have to fill up only registration number and a few other details. Because rest of the data about the candidates will be on the board’s website,” he said.

The schools getting affiliations to the board can also apply online. The photographs of the school,infrastructure and staff positions will also be made online.

Major reforms are also under way in issuing migration certificates to the students.