The Education department is struggling to bridge the digital divide that affects online education with minister S Suresh Kumar set to hold a meeting with various service providers on Monday.
During the interaction with SSLC students on Friday, the minister had to face a barrage of questions from several rural students about internet issues and non-availability of gadgets to attend online classes.
Considering this, the minister decided to convene a meeting with various stakeholders and service providers. “To start with, we are convening a meeting on Monday with institutions, who can donate gadgets to students, and internet service providers for uninterrupted internet facilities even in rural areas,” said the minister.
Along with this the department, in association with the RDPR department, is taking measures to provide televisions to public libraries and thereby help those who do not have television facilities to attend classes through the Doordarshan’s Chandana channel.
It can be recalled that the survey conducted by Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) revealed that only 61% of the children have access to gadgets and access to the internet. “At some places though there is an internet facility, it is not strong. Even the survey provided us details about students without access to any devices to attend online classes,” minister explained.
Offline classes
The decision on resuming offline classes will be taken in 8 to 10 days. The department has constituted a task force, headed by commissioner for the department of public instruction having educationists, representatives from private schools and parent associations as members, to look into the
issue.
Suresh Kumar said, “We will decide about resuming offline classes or restarting Vidyagama after receiving a report from the task force. The report is expected in 8 to 10 days.”
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