As the re-opening of schools will be delayed further, the School Education Department, which began distribution of free textbooks for Class 10 and 12 students from State-run schools, is also planning to upload all textbooks on students' laptops.
The government has strictly advised school managements to maintain social distancing norms
Chennai:
A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next that distribution of free textbooks for students studying in government and government-aided schools have already begun by maintaining social distance norms in several regions where the number of coronavirus cases is comparatively less.
Stating that free textbooks will be distributed to all State-run school students studying from Class 1 to Class 12, he said the government has decided to upload all the textbooks to the laptops, which was distributed free of cost for Class 11 students, who will be promoted to Class 12 this year.
He said that all schools were instructed to prepare the list of the students who have government's free laptop and call them to the institution to get textbooks in data format.
"A circular has been issued to all the headmasters to ask the student to bring the laptops with full charge along with their parents," he said adding, "The school heads were also instructed to deploy teachers concerned in the computer labs to upload the data for the students.
Stating that more than two lakh students will benefit, the official said that the textbooks, e-journals, e-books and new video tutorials will also be uploaded to the laptops.
"In case students could not carry laptops, they were asked to bring pen drive to get the data," he added. According to the official, students staying in containment areas will be called only after the government eases restrictions in that area.
He said the school management should also ensure that proper social distance norms should be maintained while distributing textbooks and as well as uploading textbooks in laptops.