The Times of India            08.11.2013

E-learning to be introduced in civic schools

AURANGABAD: The civic body will is set to introduce e-learning facilities the schools it runs in a bid to raise their standards of education.

Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) education officer A M Shaikh on Thursday said the facilities would be created in ten civic schools - Eight Marathi and two Urdu medium - early in December.

He said a digital projector, computers, laptops and an audio system will be provided to the schools along with subject matter for Class X. "The students will be able to understand the topics in greater detail with the help of the e-learning facility. The facility will cost us Rs 1.52 lakh for each school. The facility can also be used for the students of Classes VIII and IX," Shaikh added.

The education officer said the system would be replicated in the remaining schools based on the response it generates. Sixty six of the 78 municipal corporation-run schools are primary schools. The AMC runs only 12 high schools.

"Apart from introduction of the new facility, we have also asked all the teachers to complete the Class X syllabus by the end of December so that the students get enough time for revisions. We are planning to provide a 30-40-day window to the students for the final preparations," he said. Shaikh further said that the schools would arrange lectures of experts in the subjects in January and February.

Expressing faith in the new facility and other initiatives of the civic body, Shaikh said he was confident that of 100% results would be achieved. "In the current academic session, we hope that all the 450 students appearing for the Class X examination would clear it," he said.

Shaikh said only 56% tenth class students from AMC schools could pass the examination in 2012-13 while 52% of them cleared it in 2011-12. "The results then were not very encouraging, but this year, the teachers are putting in extra efforts to improve the standards," he said.

The civic body honours its meritorious students each year. Students scoring more than 95% in Class X are eligible for a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, while those scoring between 90-95% get Rs 50,000 each.

65 civic school students to sit for talent search exam

For the first time, 65 municipal school students will sit for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) this year. The examination is conducted by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) every year.

He said a digital projector, computers, laptops and an audio system will be provided to the schools along with subject matter for Class X. "The students will be able to understand the topics in greater detail with the help of the e-learning facility. The facility will cost us Rs 1.52 lakh for each school. The facility can also be used for the students of Classes VIII and IX," Shaikh added. 

The Indian Express          07.11.2013

E-governance: PMC to make departments accountable

With its decision to rope in a new firm for the e-governance initiative, the PMC is all set to get the legal, urban community, central stores, disaster management cell, anti-encroachment and health departments to adopt a computer-based system for their day-to-day working and

ensure transparency and accountability.

As a mandatory reform for the civic bodies reaping the benefits of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the PMC had to implement the e-governance project to improve the delivery of its civic services.

A credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, in 2011 had expressed the need for PMC to improve its services. The PMC's implementation of mandatory reforms under JNNURM were rated very good, particularly in e-governance, property tax coverage and services to the urban poor. However, the e-governance project later faced problems.

The PMC, in a bid to revive the e-governance project, has decided to bring in many departments in its ambit and make the civic work transparent.

"The civic body not only wants to resolve its problems in e-governance, but extend its efforts to bring in more departments under the project," said Rahul Jagtap, in-charge of the computer department of PMC.

There are several civic departments that have no computer-based systems in place and still follow the old system of maintaining registers, he said adding, "The new e-governance project will bring in the legal department that handles all kinds of legal matters of the civic body and urban community department that implements schemes for public and central stores department."

There will be a system for disaster management cell, anti-encroachment department and health department that issues various licenses and implements health schemes. Also, a system to maintain records of civic staff will be a part of the e-governance project.

"The PMC bought the software for various departments, but the agreement with the firms that provide the software has expired. Thus, the civic administration is facing problem in continuing the use of the software as there is no source code available to incorporate change in software, as per the change in PMC rules. The software is also outdated," said municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak, in a proposal tabled before the standing committee to appoint Probity Soft solutions to implement the project for the PMC, as it successfully implemented it in neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Standing committee chairperson Vishal Tambe said the committee had sought more details of the e-governance project for the PMC.

"The civic administration has tabled the proposal to inform that a firm is appointed to revive the e-governance project. We have some doubts and need clarification on it before allowing the civic administration to go ahead with it. The issue will be discussed at the next meeting," he said.