The UT education department in Chandigarh has directed all local government schools to establish dedicated helpdesks to assist parents encountering technical problems on the student management information system (SMIS) online fee portal. This directive was issued during a review meeting on Friday, where school staff were instructed to directly handle ongoing issues such as failed transactions, registration errors, and payment verification.
No Late Fees for Portal Failures
Following the inverted pyramid format, director of school education Nitish Singla issued a clarification confirming that no late fees are charged for delayed submissions caused by portal failures. Addressing widespread confusion regarding this academic session's revamped schedule, the department clarified that parents retain the flexibility to pay fees monthly, quarterly, annually, or for multiple months at their convenience.
Addressing Teacher Complaints
The immediate administrative intervention follows severe complaints from teachers who warned that the system's flaws had essentially transformed them into technical troubleshooting agents. Staff highlighted specific operational hurdles where failed payments could not be immediately retried by parents, forcing class in-charges to manually reactivate the transaction process through a separate verification mechanism that significantly increased their workload.
Streamlined Resolution Process
To mitigate these disruptions, the department stated that the portal's re-verification process has now been streamlined for quicker resolutions, with detailed payment guidelines uploaded to its official website. Furthermore, officials discussed a long-term plan to integrate school fee services with the city's Sampark platform to permanently stabilise transactions and ease the administrative burden on schools.
This initiative aims to reduce the technical workload on teachers and ensure a smoother fee payment experience for parents. The helpdesks will operate during school hours, and staff will be trained to resolve common issues promptly. The department also urged parents to report any persistent problems to the helpdesk for immediate assistance.
