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Sibal moots degrees at the click of a mouse

By IANS,

New Delhi : No need to run around in universities and school boards for getting educational certificates – from 2011, millions of students can get print-outs of their documents at the click of a mouse.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal Tuesday announced that all school boards, technical colleges and universities will deposit their educational degrees in a centralised online “depository”.

“From the depository, students can get their certificates online by paying a nominal fee. They can get a print-out of their degrees from home. This will help students a lot, who otherwise run around for it. It will become user friendly,” Sibal said.

“Holding of academic qualification in an electronic depository provides immense benefits to educational institutions, students, alumni and employers by enabling online access of academic qualifications,” he explained.

The minister said the two depositories – National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) – are registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

“We will finalise the depository (with whom to tie up). It will be deposited like your share certificates. You can access it from home, office and there will be no tension of losing or displacing the certificates,” the minister added.

Sibal said this will also eliminate the need for people to approach educational institutions for verification of such degrees by employers. It will also reduce the need for institutions to preserve records related to academic performance of students over a long time.

The system will also reduce the scourge of fake certificates. The system would ensure authenticity, fidelity and enabling online verification,” Sibal added.

The minister said he has already set up a task force comprising IIT-Kanpur director Sanjay Dhande, IIT-Kozhikode director Debashis Chatterjee, All-India Council for Technical Education chairman S.S. Mantha, UGC vice-chairman Ved Prakash, Central Board of Secondary Education chairman Veneet Joshi, a joint secretary of department of financial services, and some senior officials from the HRD ministry.

The task force will submit a road map by March 31 this year. “We will bring a legislation to implement it compulsorily,” Sibal added.