Considering that state employees will be busy performing poll-related duties in the coming months, the district administration had organised these camps from Oct 1 to 31
For once, it’s hard to fault the government for a programme that seems doomed to fail. Rather, students and parents, who typically disparage the district administration for any delays in delivery of caste, domicile, or non-creamy layer certificates, have taken no notice of camps organised for the same at twelve Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) schools.
Get in line: Citizen Facilitation Centers, like the one above, will be hard-pressed to provide caste, domicile certificates next year, as representatives would be busy with poll duties. File pic
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Considering that general elections may be declared in April next year, and that government employees will be busy performing poll-related duties, the district administration took a special initiative under Suvarna Rajasva Yojana from October 1 to 31 to issue various certificates necessary for getting admission for myriad courses after standard X and XII.
“Only 129 students from 12 PMC schools applied for these certificates in the entire month,” said Pune tehsildar Minal Kalaskar, who claimed that despite repeated appeals to students and parents, they were not earnest about applying for those certificates in time. There are 310 PMC schools in the city.
“The lethargic approach of students and their parents always puts last minute pressure on the administration.
That is the reason why I have organised these special camps for the students of class IX, X, and for the students of junior college six months in advance, so they won’t have to rush to acquire these certificates,” said Kalaskar who is in-charge of Citizen Facilitation Center.u00a0The tehsildar claimed that usually, when the admission dates for junior colleges, or engineering and medical courses are round the corner, the administration has to deliver more than 300 certificates a day.
“These camps were particularly aimed at assisting students from PMC schools, as they customarily hail from poor families. Their parents are generally not aware of the need for these certificates, and that’s why I have deployed four of my employees at every PMC school in our jurisdiction to spread awareness among students and their parents. However, it seems that the efforts have just gone to waste,” Kalskar said.
She also added that in the coming year the district administration is likely to face a tough challenge while issuing these certificates, owing to election-related duties.u00a0“Compared to kids from PMC schools, we are getting a better response from students in rural parts of the district,” added Kalskar, who informed that last year 2,275 students had applied for the certificates under the same scheme.
2,275
No of students who had applied for the certificates under the same scheme last year
PMC response
Education officer of PMC Meenakshi Raut said that she had conducted a meeting with the parents for generating awareness among them. However, she expressed regret at the lukewarm response to the camp. “I will make further efforts to make the students cognisant of the need for these certificates, so that such episodes are not repeated in the future,” she told MiD DAY.u00a0
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