When the government decided to keep the schools shut and turn to online classes in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikha Suresh, an Class 8 student of Government DVHSS, Charamangalam, was far from enthused.
Her family did not have a smartphone to access online lessons and her parents, one a construction worker and another an Anganwadi helper, were not in a position to buy one after the pandemic-induced lockdown took a toll on the family’s finances.
But she did not miss a lesson when the classes restarted through virtual platforms on Monday, thanks to the timely intervention of Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat. The local body body has provided Sikha and similar indigent students in the panchayat with smartphones.
“When I came to know that classes would go virtual, I felt a bit disappointed. But the panchayat gave me a smartphone. I attended the physics class taken by my teacher through a videoconferencing app on Monday. I also downloaded the KITE Victers application,” says Sikha, who hails from Kootuveli in Kanjikuzhy.
Her mother Sunitha Suresh thanked the panchayat authorities for the gesture, which allows her two children, the youngest a Class 3 student, to continue studies.
Fund from mask sale
M.G. Raju, president, Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat, says the local body will provide smartphones to 72 students. “We have identified 72 students who do not have smartphones or television sets at home. We are giving them phones in the range of ₹5,000. The distribution of smartphones will be completed by Wednesday,” he says.
The panchayat bought the phones using the money it received from the sale of more than a lakh masks.