Govt ties up with Google to start virtual classes
MUMBAI: Maharashtra government on Thursday tied up with Google to provide online education to students in the state. Students and teachers will get access to Google Classroom and G Suite for Education that will provide solutions to support remote learning.
The tools allow interactive sessions, which help teachers to explain lessons, and students can also clear doubts while sitting at home. Homework can be uploaded, said state officials.
The project was launched by chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, and will cover over 1.09 lakh government, private, aided, and unaided schools, and benefit over 22.03 million students.
Last month, the government allowed students from Class 1 to 8 to attend online classes so that they can start their academic year while at home. .
“Maharashtra is the first state in the country that is launching such a project. Coronavirus has forced us to adopt the changes that were supposed to come in the future,” Thackeray said while launching the project online. “Google Classroom and G Suite, which have been offered free of cost, will allow education institutes to conduct interactive sessions. Around 250 participants can attend it at a time. Teachers can make their audio or video presentations; students can clear
their doubts, and upload homework and assignments. Even parents can submit complaints or suggestions,” said Dinkar Patil, director, Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training (MSCERT).
“We are beginning with the training of the teachers. As many as 40,000 teachers will be the master trainers for the remaining 2 lakh teachers. Once, training is completed, students will be asked to register their mobile numbers, and will get notifications for each session,” Patil added.
School education minister Varsha Gaikwad said, “We have got responses from 1.34 lakh teachers within 48 hours after floating an invitation link for Google Classroom training. The process of teacher training is going to be started on August 7.”