Free online classes begin for 11th standard students in Maharashtra

PUNE: The Maharashtra education department on Monday started free online classes for 11th standard students to prevent loss of the academic session due to the COVID-19 outbreak, an official said.

The classes have begun on YouTube and over 60,000 first-year junior college (FYJC or Class 11) students have so far enrolled for these classes, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Director Dinkar Patil said.

The decision to start online classes free of charge for FYJC Arts, Science and Commerce students was taken to avoid the academic loss till colleges start functioning normally, he said.

The admission process for the FYJC currently stands suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Supreme Court order staying the implementation of reservation for Marathas in jobs and education.

"Schools and colleges in the state are shut due to COVID-19 outbreak. Besides the pandemic, the admission process for FYJC is suspended due to the ongoing Maratha quota issue," Patil noted.

"To avoid the academic loss, we decided to start free online classes for Arts, Science, Commerce students through YouTube," he said.

Patil said till Sunday evening, they received around 62,000 registrations from 11th standard students for the online classes across the state.

The registration is still going on, he added.

As per the SCERT's data, over 9,000 FYJC students from Pune and 7,600 from Mumbai have registered for the online classes.