Darbhanga in BEST mode

Darbhanga: The recently launched mobile application BEST (Bihar Easy School Tracking) was implemented in Darbhanga from Monday with data on 134 schools being uploaded on Day I.

Education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma launched the application on March 17. It aims at monitoring primary and middle schools in the state. The app was developed by Bihar Education Project Council with support from Unicef.

Block education officers (BEOs) have registered themselves on the app. “During monitoring, the app requires information related to teacher and student attendance, physical presence, number of male and female students in attendance and their physical presence. Approved and unapproved leaves of school teachers are also covered in the application,” Darbhanga Sadar block education officer Deo Sharan Raut said.

The BEOs have been given initial introductory training, but better understanding will develop with use, Raut said. “I inspected three schools and tried to upload the databut unfortunately only one could be uploaded and the rest two remained pending,” he said.

“The BEOs being over-burdened it would be difficult to visit schools and upload data per day. It was difficult to achieve the monthly target of visiting schools and now the instructions are for doing it daily,” a BEO said.

Darbhanga district education officer Mahesh Prasad Singh said monitoring of primary and middle schools through the app has started. “On the first day, 134 schools were monitored and their information uploaded. Monitoring feedback from all middle and primary schools would come online and hard copies would not be needed,” he said.

Courtesy: The Telegraph