The brains behind the project—Varun Seth, Urvish Kukreja and Sugato Banerjee—are students of the Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. A year ago, Seth was himself queuing up at various colleges for application forms for his younger brother. “I realised how cumbersome the process was and began thinking about how centralising the application procedure could make it convenient for the students.”

Discussions with classmates Kukreja and Banerjee followed and the idea of creating a website evolved. “At that stage, it was important for us to know whether a website could be feasible for the students and parents, gauge their comfort level at carrying out transactions online and get their feedback. We went to schools and spoke to ninth and tenth standard students and their parents,” explained Banerjee.

After carrying out the survey, they found that most students and parents approved of the website idea. After collating the necessary information, a prototype was developed. The trio had initially thought of operating as a separate private agency. But after approaching colleges and presenting the authorities with the idea, they realised that they would need government backing to officiate the process. Under the guidance of Dr Kiran Mangaonkar, Principal, Mithibai college, they got in touch with Sheila Tiwari, Deputy Director of Education, Mumbai region. Tiwari, who had been mulling over an online system for application, then helped them with the rest of the process. Earlier this year, they met the Minister for School Education who, too, approved of their concept.