Admissions go 'old school' as e-portals take a nap

Ludhiana: The new academic session for non-board classes in district government schools commenced with significant logistical hurdles as two vital e-Punjab portals underwent scheduled maintenance. The downtime disrupted plans to initiate online attendance and automated SMS alerts for parents. Simultaneously, the ongoing admission process faced setbacks, as crucial documentation—including school leaving certificates (SLCs) and registration data required for enrollment—remains locked within the inaccessible digital systems.The launch of Mission Samrath for Classes 6 to 8 was also impacted, with officials unable to retrieve historical student data from previous years. According to school authorities, the Education Department issued notifications stating that maintenance would continue until April 2 and 4. Consequently, staff have been directed to manage all records manually and backload the data once digital access is restored.The documentation gap is particularly critical for new admissions, as schools cannot formally enroll students without the registration numbers and SLCs stored on the portal. Deputy DEO (primary) Manoj Kumar noted that the update process is expected to conclude by Monday, after which all manual entries will be digitised.Furthermore, despite a recent directive from the district education office (secondary) to implement online attendance and update parental contact information for SMS alerts, the system remains offline. Efforts to reach district education officer (secondary) Dimple Madaan for comment on the operational challenges were unsuccessful, as she did not respond to repeated phone calls. For now, the district's education machinery continues to rely on pen and paper to bridge the digital gap.