The project ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’ is scheduled to kickstart from June 25. Representational image

In an effort to engage students during COVID-19 crisis, Tripura has announced a special initiative for activity-based learning named ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’. The project is scheduled to kickstart from June 25. Earlier in April, the state education department started training student through various models such as online classes, recorded videos etc streamed via local cable television channels and social media.

However, the project soon encountered hiccups as it was found several children didn’t have access to Internet or cable TV channels and were being left out of the government’s initiative.

So, the new scheme was floated aiming at engaging students by disseminating audio and video contents focused on hands-on learning activities and messages of simple projects, fun activities and games among them through WhatsApp or SMS services.

Speaking to reporters here today, education minister Ratan Lal Nath said the government is unable to reopen schools in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. However, he said his department has mooted a plan to make sure student don’t waste the time and spend some time studying.

Schools, colleges and other public places like gymnasiums are closed in Tripura since March. Though the state government announced schools would re-open in June, the announcement was retracted soon after revised central guidelines arrived.

“The new scheme called Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho can be accessed via smartphones of guardians. In case no smartphone is available, SMS services would be used to teach students”, the minister said.

As per the novel guidelines, instructions of the day’s lessons and exercises will reach students on their mobile phones every morning. Feedback on their performance will be collected in the afternoon. The content would be shared from state headquarters to academic coordinators in different districts, who would then coordinate among concerned headmasters in the area.

Headmasters, who would engage their teachers to monitor the process, would be responsible for reporting back with feedback and any hiccups found in the exercise.

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While appealing students and guardians to take advantage of the new scheme, the education minister has also said that a month-long series of online classes would commence once again from June 22.

Tripura currently has 4,398 government and government aided schools apart from 335 private schools. Five lakh students study in these schools across the state including nearly a lakh admitted in the private schools.