Educational institutes in Patna opt for online classes due to lockdown

Faryal Rumi | TNN | Updated: Apr 5, 2020, 07:44 IST

Picture for representational purpose only.

PATNA: Several educational institutes in the city have switched to online classes amid the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. Schools, colleges and even coaching institutes have started virtual classes and providing online study materials or e-contents to the students to keep the new academic session going without any delay.
Patna divisional commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal has also asked all private schools to conduct online classes, share assignments and recorded lessons of teaching as per the syllabus, e-content and study materials to keep students engaged in academic activities. "This way, the teachers would also become tech-savvy and their teaching methodology would improve. Besides, the school academic session would not get delayed and kids education would continue," he said on Saturday.
"It is a golden opportunity for kids to improve themselves and even parents can also help their wards in academic activities. Parents can help their kids prepare for online lesson from the safe environment of their home," Agarwal said.
Meanwhile, several private schools have started virtual classes for five hours every day from Monday to Saturday. Rajiv Ranjan Sinha, president of Patliputra Sahodaya Complex (a group of CBSE affiliated schools in Bihar), said the students were being advised to download the virtual books from e-Pathshala, a web portal of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). "Some schools are using their own mobile applications for coordinating about the online classes and home assignments," he said.
Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC), a wing of education department, has also launched a mobile application 'Unnayan: Mera Mobile Mera Vidyalaya' for classes VI to XII of government-run schools in the state. The app was jointly developed by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Bihar and Eckovation.
Besides, the BEPC has also booked a slot with Doordarshan to telecast the videos of study materials of classes IX and X. AIR is also likely to air the audio of lessons for both the classes. Kiran said the students of other classes can download study material from Unnayan app.
The universities, colleges and institutes of management, engineering, fashion and law have also geared up for conducting online classes. Indian Institute of Technology, Patna has started virtual classes from Friday under the guidance of its director Pushpak Bhattacharyya. The institute conducts more than 20 classes simultaneously for several departments. "This session was to monitor both the bandwidth and the storage requirements. Barring minor hiccups, there was no major issue," the director said.
National Institute of Technology, BIT-Mesra (Patna), St Xavier's College, Central University of South Bihar, Amity University and several colleges have also started sharing study materials and conducting online classes through mobile applications.
Besides, coaching institutes are also uploading videos of teaching on their web portals and sending assignments on WhatsApp.