At a time when education in the State has switched to the online mode, Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) has come up with the ‘White Board’ programme to reach out to differently abled students, who are unable to follow regular classes on the television or the Internet.
At present, Kozhikode is the only district in the State to have implemented the difficult programme. “White Board is quite similar to ‘Rasakkudukka’, a programme being implemented in the district for many years. Hence, compared to other districts, it was easier for us to implement it,” said SSK district coordinator Abdul Hakeem.
White Board functions through the joint efforts of resource teachers across the State. They follow the online classes on television, and adapt the classes using techniques suitable for children under them.
“All resource teachers in the State are part of a group named ‘Telegram’. The teachers post the adapted classes into this group, which is then forwarded to block-level resource teachers and finally to the parents of the differently abled children.
“There is no homogeneous method to train these children. Every child is different and needs different techniques to learn,” said Mr. Hakeem.
Besides online modules, the SSK is making arrangements to facilitate the direct interaction of resource teachers with their students once a week.
But the programme has its limitations too. “It is impossible to train visually impaired children under this programme. They need to be taught directly,” said Mr. Hakeem.