MUST ADDRESS DIGITAL DIVIDE, SAYS SISODIA WHILE LAUNCHING REMOTETEACHING PLAN
NEW DELHI: Asserting that online education might create a ‘digital divide’, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday emphasised the relevance of ‘one-to-one learning’ and ‘learning with human feel’, adding that while schools were to be closed till July 31, as per the Centre’s guidelines, “learning will continue”.
Addressing a press conference today, Sisodia said, “A model has been implemented for one month from today,” announcing the modalities for the new remote-teaching plan which will address the digital divide. The plan would include strategies using digital devices and support of parents and the School Management Committees.
Three cohorts have been created with the learning requirements of different children in mind, as per the plan. “Classes KG to 8 in cohort 1, classes 9 and 10 in cohort 2 and classes 11 and 12 in cohort 3,” Sisodia said. As per the plan, for classes KG to 8, daily syllabus agnostic worksheets with content and questions or activities that will promote reading, writing, understanding, basic numeracy and happiness among children will be sent by teachers. For classes 9 and 10, daily subject-specific worksheets with subject-related content to strengthen the basic understanding of core subject matters among students. For classes 11 and 12, live online classes of up to two hours daily in 12 subjects having the highest enrolment starting with the most basic topics would be conducted. Teachers have been asked to maintain a list of parents who are not in the class Whatsapp groups and update them over the phone about class plans and will be asked to collect weekly worksheets from the school with physical distancing in place. “The completed assignment would be sent back by children or their parents to the teacher through Whatsapp or those who collected worksheets physically will return the completed assignment physically to the concerned teacher next week and pick up new worksheets,” Sisodia said.
“For class 12, classes will be approximately 45 minutes each and not more than two a day. The respective subject teachers in the school will follow up with their students over the phone and Whatsapp and clear doubts if any. For class 11 students, live classes will start after the readmission of students post the class 10 board exam results,” he added.