Academic year nears end, but no tabs for BMC students

Students of Class 9 of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools have not received tabs though the academic year has almost ended. The civic education department has now allocated Rs 12 crore in its budget provision to issue tabs to students of secondary section.

Students were supposed to receive these tabs in June-July which marked the start of their academic year. But as the syllabus of Class 9 was revised the memory card of tabs had to be upgraded with the new syllabus. Students were not given these tabs stating the process of upgrading the memory card of these tabs was going on.

But this upgradation process is still going on since over 6 months as per the civic education department.

A senior officer of the department said, “Installation of revised syllabus in 18,078 tabs is done and supply of the same is in process. The delay occurred due to change in syllabus. There was no point giving tabs to students without the correct syllabus so we decided to upgrade it first and only then give it to students.”

Sandhya Joshi, a teacher, said, “Students have been waiting for one whole year and they are still waiting. Students of Class 9 did not have the opportunity to use the tabs entirely in the whole year. Does upgradation of syllabus take so much time?”

Parents are skeptical about the plans of the civic education department for BMC schools. Ajit Desai, a parent, said, “The budget stated various plans for BMC schools. But if the BMC cannot fulfil its promises then why do they promise in the first place?”