With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and several lockdowns, schools around the nation are shut. For the first time, Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools open their admission process online. It allowed parents or guardians to apply through their online applications. Zilla Parishad schools in Pune received about 14,000 applications from 13 talukas.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all schools and colleges are shut across but ZP didn't want to stop the admission process. Hence, keeping in mind the safety of parents and students, ZP turned the process online in lieu of door-to-door admissions and manual process where parents' physical presence was required.

Separate links were provided for each taluka, wherein parents could click on the link and fill up required details on the admission form.

Ayush Prasad, Pune Chief Executive Officer of ZP said that this step was essential to ensure safety and contain the spread of the virus. Although it was the first time admission process being held online, it turned out to be successful. The newly added online feature will be carried on as regular feature, henceforth.

Few people don't have access to the internet, such parents can fill the form physically once schools start functioning in the city

There are 3,651 schools and precisely 13,960 students enrolled in Zilla Parishad Schools through the online portal in just 45 days. The idea behind conducting online admission processes is to avoid parents assembling at schools in huge numbers, which would break lockdown norms and increase the risk of contracting coronavirus.