Rural students finding it difficult to cope with e-learning: Sudin

Ponda: Raising opposition to the online teaching commenced by some of the schools in the state, MGP’s senior leader and former deputy chief minister Sudin Dhavalikar, on Friday, urged the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to come out with a ‘proper strategy’ for teaching for the academic year 2020-21, in view of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Parents as well as students from the rural areas are finding it difficult to cope with e-learning system mostly due to network issue and poor financial condition, states Dhavalikar in a press note issued on Friday.

According to Dhavalikar, students and their parents in city areas are adjusting well with the online learning started by some schools. But the students and their parents in rural areas are going through a tough time due to this system.

“Firstly, most villages in the state have poor network coverage areas, and it has made joining online classes or getting videos from online sources a difficult task. Secondly, parents from the rural areas can’t afford the high-end  cell phones and monthly internet packs. Many families are going through economic hardships due to the lockdown, and on the top of it, getting internet connectivity and high-end mobiles have become unaffordable for many families,” mentions the release.

“Students from the city area have gone far ahead with their studies and portion, but rural students are yet to properly start it.  It seems like the government is differentiating between students on the basis of rural and urban areas. The MGP is completely against this online teaching system,” the release quotes Dhavalikar as saying.

“Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has recently termed the online teaching system followed by schools as unofficial, and parents across the state are confused over it. Whether to go ahead with the online system or to wait for proper announcement by the state government is the big question before the parents. Considering it, state government should come clear over its education strategy for the year 2020-21 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic,”  adds the release.