Nagpur Municipal Corporation Launches Ambitious Digital Archive for School Records
In a transformative move for civic administration and educational heritage preservation, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has officially launched its groundbreaking e-Prashasan initiative. This comprehensive project is dedicated to scanning and digitizing decades-old school registers, including critical documents such as transfer certificates, bonafide certificates, and admission-withdrawal records, with some archival materials dating back to the 1950s.
Addressing Longstanding Administrative Challenges
For years, NMC schools have grappled with the physical deterioration of admission-withdrawal registers, which were often haphazardly stacked in storage rooms. The situation became increasingly complex as numerous schools were forced to close due to declining enrollment rates. Consequently, the records from these shuttered institutions were merged into operational schools, creating a significant administrative burden.
In some extreme cases, a single functioning school was tasked with preserving the records of 30 to 40 closed schools, making the retrieval of certificates an arduous and time-consuming process. This problem intensified as former students required these documents for various official purposes, including caste validity verification, government scheme applications, and employment procedures.
Officials highlighted that delays in locating physical registers frequently resulted in prolonged pendency of cases at the district caste scrutiny office, underscoring the urgent need for a digital solution.
Leadership and Collaborative Execution
The digital transformation was spearheaded by Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari, Additional Municipal Commissioner Vaishnavi B, senior IT officials, and the education department. Vaishnavi B emphasized the project's core objectives, stating, "Old records like TC and bonafide certificates are being scanned. Even records from 1950-1960 will be made available. Every record will be digitized. This will save time and ensure authenticity. The work for online generation of certificates is progressing."
The initiative is being executed through a collaborative effort between NMC's IT and Education departments. The project was awarded via a tender to Techsync Innovations Pvt Ltd, operating under the e-Prashasan brand. At the civic level, NMC's IT officer Swapnil Lokhande is coordinating the extensive undertaking.
Unprecedented Scale and Rapid Implementation
The scale of the e-Prashasan project is truly remarkable. Within an impressive 30-day timeframe, a team of 20 representatives equipped with 15 scanning devices successfully digitized registers from 496 schools. This includes both operational and closed institutions, resulting in the scanning of 1,829 registers and the generation of over 1.48 lakh scanned images.
Currently, more than 180 data entry operators are meticulously feeding student details into a centralized system. Each digital entry is being linked with a scanned image of the original record to ensure verification and maintain authenticity, creating a robust and reliable digital archive.
Comprehensive Data Coverage and Future Benefits
Out of the 496 schools covered in this initial phase, 105 are operational while 391 are closed. The project has successfully digitized over 13.69 lakh student records, comprising 6.25 lakh from functional schools and 7.44 lakh from closed ones.
The newly implemented e-Prashasan school management system will revolutionize administrative processes by enabling the issuance of transfer certificates, bonafide certificates, and admission-extract documents with a single click. Additionally, the system incorporates features for attendance monitoring, digital result sheets, and centralized oversight at the NMC level.
Vaishnavi B further elaborated on the long-term benefits, noting that this initiative will eliminate dependence on fragile paper registers, significantly reduce turnaround times for document requests, and allow former students to request documents online from anywhere in the world. This digital leap forward represents a significant enhancement in civic service delivery and educational record preservation for the Nagpur community.
