Panaji: The Green Goa Foundation (GGF), on Monday, stated that some of the students in Goa studying in the higher secondary section as well as first year under-graduation (UG) courses are facing serious problems in their online study, which is being followed due to the ongoing Corona pandemic.
In a letter written to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and director of education Santosh Amonkar, the foundation has pointed out that many students have been approaching it with their difficulties.
“Students were asked by their professors to download software related to their subject on their laptops, but many of the students have no laptop at their home and it is not possible to download the particular software on their android mobile phone,” the Foundation added, further pointing out, “The students were very upset as they didn’t get proper guidance from their respective professors, who in turn maintained that the students need to have laptop since it is required for their future, and all should have the latest gadgets to cope with the latest technologies.”
Green Goa Foundation is an NGO, which handles issues from environment to education, and has approached the court of law on many such matters.
Maintaining that the students as well as their parents are experiencing a lot of pressure for purchasing a laptop, the foundation chairman, Raison Almeida said in the particular letter that the many of the parents are going through financial hardship, due to the current Corona pandemic.
“Some students have already committed suicide on this issue,” he noted.
Quoting other problems of the students, the foundation said that some of them have a single parent, some have lost their father, and some others have a bed-ridden parent.
It also pointed out that many of the parents have lost their jobs due to the Corona pandemic.
The communication also maintains that many of the students are visiting the cyber cafe, for attending long lectures and completing assignments, and have to pay through their nose for the same.
It further stated that some families with more than one child studying online find it difficult to provide a mobile phone to every one of them.
Demanding with the government an alternative learning arrangement for such students, the letter has attached names of around three dozen students mainly from Salcete, Bardez, Ponda and Quepem taluka, who need help in their online education.
“We demand relief to the students before they lose hope in the educational system and in the government,” it concluded.
