ISO schools: A string of pearls for AMC, There are three ISO certified civic-run schools and the accreditation of fourth is in the offing.

Rafique Aziz

Aurangabad, March 28:

The children belonging to the underprivileged and economically weaker sections of society bank on the government-run schools for better education. Considering this, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) strives to impart quality education to tens of thousands of students through its 71 Marathi, Urdu or both mediums schools in the city. The AMC proudly shares that it has three ISO certified schools.

The AMC's three schools at Mukundwadi, Priyadarshininagar-Indiranagar and Chikalthana were awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for Quality Management System (QMS) and the fourth school at Baijipura-Indiranagar has been proposed for ISO 21001:2018 certification for Educational Organisations Management System (EOMS).

Hat-trick Man

Headmaster (HM) Devendra Solanke, who has played a leading role in getting ISO certification to civic schools at Mukundwadi (in 2013-14) and Chikalthana (in 2017-18) and proposing the same for the school in Baijipura, says, "The accreditation is the result of the team effort. It increases the responsibility of the HM and teachers and motivates them to give only the best to students who are India's future. We have to maintain the quality (education) and quantity (facilities), make education a fun-loving process and maintain the infrastructure and the results. The recognition also helps reduce the ratio of dropouts and attract admissions from private schools to our accredited schools."

"We encourage teachers to read books on myriad subjects relating to art, science, culture, history, education, and general knowledge. My prime focus is on removing barriers in communication between a teacher and the learners, tap the latter's potential as our students also hail from heterogeneous cultural backgrounds. Parents are also involved. Teachers are proud of being addressed as teachers of ISO certified schools," explains the 56-year-old HM.

Proud Moment

The headmaster of an ISO accredited AMC school (2015-16) at Priyadarshini-Indiranagar Sanjeev Sonar elaborates, "The certification gives recognition to the AMC and its education section on the district, divisional or state-level platforms. It helps attract CSR funds from industries, government offices, autonomous bodies, NGOs; discretionary funds from MP, MLA and other public representatives, individuals apart from gaining knowledge partnerships. The funds are utilised in introducing advanced technology, health care facilities, setting up digital classrooms (under e-learning system), computer and science laboratories; providing adequate basic amenities, promoting sports and developing necessary infrastructure. It also encourages other AMC schools to bring reforms, gear up for the change in their existing system."

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Many more ISO certified civic schools soon: Civic Chief

The AMC leaves no stone unturned to improve the standard of education in its schools through people's participation. It is not planning to develop Smart Schools through Smart City Mission funds.

"The AMC started two CBSE syllabus schools in 2021-22. Now, the AMC and the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited in association with private partners have designed a three-tier plan. The first focus was on ideating Smart AMC schools. The second focus is on improving and upgrading the Civil and Digital Infrastructure in our schools and thirdly, the focus will be on capacity building of our teachers to apprise them of utilising the technology to impart quality education. There will be a sea-change in the education system and we will witness many more ISO accredited AMC schools in the coming days," said municipal administrator Astik Kumar Pandey adding that he is proud of being a student of a government school.