The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s school board has appointed Pragnesh Patel as chairman and Ankit Rathod as vice-chairman, placing a new team in charge of administering the civic body’s reported Rs 1,200 crore primary education budget for the current financial year.
The appointments were unanimously approved at a meeting chaired by the Ahmedabad mayor on Wednesday, October 21, according to Gujarat Samachar – Ahmedabad. The meeting was attended by the mayor and members of the municipal primary education committee.
The new office-bearers will oversee the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s primary schools, including work related to education quality, school infrastructure and day-to-day administration. Their responsibilities will also include managing the provisions of the current financial year’s budget.
The change follows the completion of the previous chairman’s term. The names of the new members of the Nagar Prathamik Shikshan Samiti had been announced earlier, while the appointment of the chairman and vice-chairman was formalised at Wednesday’s meeting.
The school board’s administrative structure also includes a representative of the state government. The Ahmedabad city district education officer has been appointed to the committee as the state government’s representative, the report said.
The reported Rs 1,200 crore allocation makes budget execution a central responsibility for the new team. The source identified the effective use of the funds, improvement of facilities in municipal schools and better learning outcomes as key challenges before the committee.
For families using civic schools, the board’s decisions can affect the condition of school buildings, the availability of basic facilities and the quality of administration at the city’s primary schools. The source did not provide a breakdown of the budget or specify the number of schools and students covered by the allocation.
The new chairman said he would continue the initiatives undertaken by his predecessor. He also expressed the intention to improve the municipal schools and encourage more children to enrol in them.
The appointment therefore transfers responsibility for the current financial year’s education administration to the new office-bearers while retaining continuity in the committee’s ongoing work. The next stage will be the implementation of the budget provisions and the committee’s stated focus on school quality, infrastructure and management.
