Students of the Bihar State Education Board (BSEB) may now access their mark-sheets, admit cards and other documents for both the Matriculation and Intermediate exam by logging in to a digital locker account provided by the board.
"It is the first state education board which has taken this initiative," said board chairman Anand Kishor, who has held additional charge of the post since June 20. The introduction of digital lockers - an online storage account much like a regular email account -will minimise the process of carrying physical files, getting numerous copies attested and even verification. Examinees will only be required to have a physical copy of their admit cards on the day of the examination. "Students are also likely to receive mark-sheets and certificates in the digital format, along with hard copies, which can be stored in the digital locker," said Kishor.
The process of acquiring digital documents is likely to start with this year's compartmental exam which is scheduled for the third week of November. Around four lakh students will take the matriculation compartmental exam and 2.5 lakh will appear for the intermediate compartmental exam. The forms for the same will be available from the first week of October 2016.
"There are no hassles in creating a digital locker account. Any person who possesses an Aadhar card is eligible to create a locker for free. I urge students who are going to appear for the board compartmental examination to get an Aadhar card in order to access this service. Digitisation will reduce the burden of safeguarding records and information," said Kishor.
Kishor also sent a letter today to the director general of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Ajay Bhushan Pandey to facilitate the digital locker account service to Bihar board. The board will provide the account credentials to students via SMS on their mobile numbers registered with the board. For students without internet and mobile phone access, the old paper route will be made available.
Digital locker is one of the key initiatives under the Digital India Programme by Government of India. The main aim of this service is to provide a secure online space for storing the documents.
Government school principals and students hailed the initiative taken by the Bihar board. "After the break-out of Bihar board scam, it was difficult for the board officials to manage entire gamut from registration to the creation of mark-sheets for all the schools. But the new chairman took the matter seriously. This initative will bring uniformity and curb forgery," said Madhuri Dwivedi, principal of Patna Collegiate.
Suraj Kumar, a class IX student of Miller High School, a government school said, "It will be easier for us to get documents through web portals instead of queuing up at the board office. Even if I lose my documents, I can retrieve them using the digital locker."