Many students deprived as online classes kick off

JAGATSINGHPUR: As the live streaming of lessons for Class 1 to 10 on YouTube commenced across the State on Monday, teachers expressed difficulty in bringing children together to teach, while parents took to social media to appeal to the Chief Minister demanding provision of smartphones to children from lower economic status. However, there were many children who appreciated the initiative.

The door-to-door survey by teachers had revealed that over 40 per children do not own smart phones and arrangements were made to put them in groups of 4 to 5 to ensure cent per cent participation. But due to Covid concerns the arrangement did not yield result. A guardian Abhimanyu Barik said,”My son and daughter are in primary school. But they had to skip today’s classes since we do not have an android phone and I did not want to send them over to our neighbour’s house who have recently recovered from the virus.”

Some students and parents took to social media to request the CM to provide smart phones to all students to ensure equitable access to education. For students who attended the live classes, it was an overall good experience. Gulap Shah Parvin from Mohiuddinpur  under Jagatsinghpur block said, “I study Class IX in Parbati High School in Alasudha. I attended today’s class and our teachers also cleared doubts after the lessons.”

Contacted, District Education Officer (DEO)  Niranjan Behera said, “We will ensure participation of a majority of students in online education through awareness.” As per official sources,  54.73 per cent of high school students and 40.61 per cent from primary schools attended  online classes across the district.
The School and Mass Education department, on June 17, had decided to conduct live streaming of online classes from 1 to 10 on YouTube.