Over 50,000 school applications, including those from overseas, have been processed in the last two years through an online platform that gives parents the choice and convenience to pick their preferred school.

The common online gateway — admissiontree.in, an initiative by ABP — completed two years on Wednesday.

Over 250 schools in Bengal, most of them in Calcutta, are part of the online platform for admission. Several heads of schools have admitted that the portal had increased the visibility of their schools.

Launched in July 2019, admissiontree had 100-odd schools enlist in the last one year, when distancing became the norm and institutions could easily digitise their system, thanks to the platform.

“This portal provides guardians options to choose,” said Bratati Bhattacharyya, the secretary general of Shri Shikshayatan School. It is the third admission season for the school with the portal.

Parents can log on to www.admissiontree.in and choose a school without visiting individual school websites or calling up schools to enquire about admission.

“...because of this online platform they (parents especially the working ones) can complete the (admission) process whenever it is convenient for them,” said Surendra Kumar Singh, the general manager, MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School.

In the last two years, abo-ut a lakh people have registered on the website. For admission, guardians get a choice of schools from which they can pick one, give the date of birth of the child, upload documents, pay the fees and submit the form.

The “credibility of the platform” has widened the reach for schools.

“The platform has created a wider reach and many more parents can gather information, especially now when access to premises is limited,” said Mahadevi Birla World Academy principal Anjana Saha.

School heads said admission had eased the process for parents as well as for institutions. “This is an innovative idea. We see this benefits both schools and parents,” said Sujoy Biswas, the principal of Rammohan Mission High School.

Brigadier V.N. Chaturvedi (retd), the secretary general of Vidya Mandir Society that runs Birla High School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School and Birla High School Mukundapur said admissiontree was a well-thought and planned portal. “The evolution and revolution in the admission sector is being led by admissiontree and it should not be limited to Calcutta or Bengal.”

Schools have also noticed a change both in the number of applications and the admission pattern.

Biswas said the number of applications from far-off places in the city had gone up.

“We have mostly done away with hardcopy applications,” said Sudipta Bose, the rector-cum-manager of HM Schools, which has a CBSE and a state-board affiliated school.

Delhi Public School (Joka) principal Writuparna Chatterjee said it was a “blessing” to be able to reach out to parents during the lockdown. “Parents can compare school infrastructure and fees on a single portal.”