Surat Municipal school goes hi-tech, gets website

Till date, government or civic schools are considered to be outdated in comparison with their private counterparts. But all that is set to change, with a civic school in Surat getting a website of its own. The school, run by the Municipal School Board (MSB), has a website dedicated to it and provides information about its teachers and students.

Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Pratmik Kanyashala, located at Krishna Kunj in Adajan, is just like any other school operated by MSB. What makes it stand out among the 281 other MSB-operated schools is that it has its own website, which contains all information related to the school including number of students, teachers, infrastructure available on the premises, among other info. It also has a chart which mentions the qualification of teachers and other staff.

At present, the project is on a pilot basis, but the MSB wants to prepare separate websites for all its schools. The website has been launched as part of the MSB plan to modernise its schools and is named after the school number. For example, the school number of Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Pratmik Kanyashala is 84, thus the web address msbs84.com.

"The MSB organises a lot of activity in its schools, like providing free quality education to students. The website will bridge the gap between MSB schools and the people who mostly feel that our schools lack the modern touch," Rupin Patchhigar, former chairman of MSB, said.

Patchhigar added that those visiting the website can post comments and also make donations - either for the school or for the MSB. It took more than one month to prepare the website, he said, adding that the board has made a provision of Rs10 lakh in its budget for the financial year 2011-12 to prepare websites for all its 281 schools.

Apart from general information, the website also contains details about achievements of school and its staff. It has details of awards won by teachers and acclaim received by its students in various fields.