The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s school board has appointed Pragnesh Patel as its new chairman and Ankit Rathod as deputy chairman, with both appointments approved unanimously at a meeting chaired by Mayor Hitesh Barot. The leadership change places the administration of the city’s municipal schools under a new team as the civic education system seeks to improve facilities and attract more students.
The appointments were made after the term of outgoing chairman Dr Sujay Mehta ended. The names of the new members of the municipal school board had been announced earlier, but the formal selection of the chairman and deputy chairman was taken up only after the previous chairman’s tenure concluded, according to a report by Nav Gujarat Samay – Ahmedabad.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s primary education committee oversees municipal schools that serve children from poor and lower-middle-income families. The board’s responsibilities therefore extend beyond routine administration, covering the functioning of schools and the provision of educational facilities for a large section of the city’s residents.
At the meeting, Patel and Rathod were formally approved as chairman and deputy chairman without opposition. Mayor Barot presided over the proceedings, which were attended by office-bearers and board members including Navin Patel, Nandini Pandya, Sonal Patel, Nitaben Prajapati, Dr Nilay Shukla, Liladhar Khadke, Parth Trivedi and Nikiben Shah.
The reconstituted board also includes government and non-government representatives. Ahmedabad city district education officer Rohit Chaudhary has been appointed as the state government’s representative. Chirag Solanki and Bhavanisinh Shekhawat have been selected as non-government members.
The change in leadership comes at a time when the municipal school system is being positioned around the twin objectives of improving the quality of education and strengthening school infrastructure. The source report said the outgoing chairman, Dr Sujay Mehta, had undertaken efforts to increase education and facilities in municipal schools during his tenure.
After handing over the chairmanship, Patel said those efforts would be continued. He also expressed the intention to build better schools so that more children would choose to study in Ahmedabad’s municipal institutions. The statement places school quality and physical facilities at the centre of the new board’s immediate administrative agenda.
The appointment is significant because the school board operates at the intersection of municipal governance and public education. Decisions taken by the board affect how civic schools are managed and how facilities are developed for children who rely on the municipal system. However, the report does not provide details of a new project list, budget allocation, implementation timetable or measurable targets for the incoming leadership.
For now, the immediate administrative milestone is the completion of the formal leadership transition. The new chairman and deputy chairman are expected to take forward the existing work on education and facilities under the supervision of the municipal school board.
