Too many forms for book grants

THE EDITOR: The jury is out on the Visa Electron Book Grant Cards for secondary school students. The verdict is unanimous — guilty on all counts! Guilty of antiquated forms for parents to complete, and guilty of outdated procedural framework that up to now some parents have not received their cards or have not redeemed them for cash. The distribution system has failed miserably for one reason: the bureaucracy associated with accessing the card. Well, is there a better system to close the gap between the goal of getting the cards to parents on a timely basis and the actual performance of the entire system?

I have formulated a faster system to get the Visa Electron cards to parents for the September 2004-2005 school term. This system is virtually paper free. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, has questioned, “Why do we have all of these forms?” The system is also hassle free with implicit control by the principal. The system is as follows:

* The principal of each secondary school supervises the preparation of each promotion list to ensure that the information is valid.
* Place the prospective cardholder’s name next to each student.
* The principal then signs a declaration form attesting to the authenticity of the list. It is important to note that the principal must verify the identification of parents.

Parents may have to show up in person to present identification cards to the principal or his representatives. Parents would complete no application form. The principal then hand delivers the official list to the District Office. The principal signs a form as having delivered the list.
The Ministry then directs Republic Bank to prepare the cards en masse for each secondary school. They are then distributed to the District Office. Principals are then informed about the date to collect them.

* The principal then informs the promoted students about what time their parents can collect the cards.
* Parents walk with proper identification to collect cards.

This is my proposal to ensure parents receive the cards early and without the run around that is normally associated with the present bureaucratic system of Visa Electron Card distribution. This system could be introduced on or before August 2004. Final word of caution — anyone who abuses the system should feel the full brunt of the law!

JOHN DESMOND
Fyzabad