Online education? 40% students don’t have internet

Govt teachers complain of lack of connectivity for students, caution against impact on health, learning

Schools in erstwhile Karimnagar district are making preparations to virtually reopen after remaining shut for the past five months following the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic.

There are 4,42,226 students studying in 3,573 schools in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. Of them, 1,37,955 students are enrolled in 1,150 schools of present Jagtial district,

1,43,275 students in around 1,000 schools in Karimnagar district,

89,226 students in 773 schools in Peddapalli district, and 71,781 students in about 650 schools of Rajanna Sircilla district.

When the education departments in these four districts conducted surveys about the possibility of conducting online classes, they realised that more than half of the government school students do not have internet facility, 40 per cent of them do not have a television at their homes and 10 percent do not even have power supply at their houses. Further, only 60 percent of all the schools have cable network, while only 22 percent have DTH (Direct To Home) systems.

State general secretary of Telugu Nadu Student Federation P. Ravinder said under the circumstances, it will be very difficult to provide online education to almost 50 per cent of the students. Moreover, running of online classes will affect students psychologically as also their vision.

On the pretext of conducting online classes, many private educational institutions are collecting high fee, Ravinder alleged.

He pointed out that many parents had lost jobs due to Coronavirus and are facing severe hardships. They are in no position to pay fee for their children to study online.

State president of Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association Yadagiri Shekar Rao, however, said they are organising online classes following pressure from parents, who have realised that given the circumstances, this is the only way their children could be provided education.

Moreover, students are also slowly getting habituated to this kind of education environment and are able to focus on their studies, he said.

Some of the private educational institutions are also gearing up to start virtual classes using tools like Zoom, Google hangout and Microsoft team. Some of them are also trying out Seesaw, Google suite and Youtube videos to record classes and teach their students.

Chairman of Alphores Educational Institutions, Dr V. Narendar Reddy said it is the responsibility of every educational institution to ensure that each student benefits, whether by way of virtual or real means of education.