Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today gave the assurance that no student studying in a government school will miss the online classes on account of not having TV or smartphone at home. The government is making arrangements for about 2.26 lakh students in government schools who don’t have TV or Internet access.
Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “There are about 41 lakhs students in government schools in the State, not including the Plus One students. June is the time for starting the new academic year and in the Covid scenario, the Education Department devised the plan for online classes through the Victers TV Channel and the social media accounts of Victers channel. There has been a good response to the initial day’s online classes from students and parents alike. As per the Education Department, 2,26,784 students do not have access to the online class facility. Local Self Government bodies, Teachers, PTAs and Kudumbasree are taking efforts to arrange online class facilities for these children. The Education Department has also sought the support of all MLAs in addressing this issue. Arrangements are being made to view classes in public areas such as a library, community centres, etc.”
The CM also informed that apart from KSFE, Beverages Corporation has decided to sponsor 500 TV sets for students. Many student organizations and youth organizations are participating in these activities. The first two weeks are trial telecast and this will be repeated so that students don’t miss any online class. He emphasised that the online classes are a temporary arrangement until the schools reopen. Regular classes will start as soon as the situation improves. “There is no alternative to school education and such learning is essential for the mental development of children”, he added.
He described the death of a ninth-grade student as painful. The Department of Education is also investigating the incident after her father said the child was upset because the online class was not available. A preliminary investigation by the Department found that 25 of the Malappuram Irumbiliyam Government high school’s children did not have Internet or TV facilities.
Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta IAS, were also present for the briefing.