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In times of lockdown, govt school students use WhatsApp for online studies
Teachers like Avrati Agrawal, who also heads a basic education school at Nabipur in Muradnagar block, are making the most of WhatsApp to teach her students during
Teachers like Avrati Agrawal, who also heads a basic education school at Nabipur in Muradnagar block, are making the most of WhatsApp to teach her students during the lockdown period. The Uttar Pradesh government has also initiated various online modes of teaching and learning to ensure that students of basic education schools do not miss out on studies.
“We have created student groups and are sending them study material in audio and video formats and also as online links. With these aids, they can learn at their own pace even while staying at home. We also send them worksheets and assignments to keep them up to date with lessons. They can send us back pictures of completed assignments and we grade them and send them our feedback,” Agrawal said.
She said about 40-45% students of basic education schools have at least one smartphone available in their family.
“We have asked students having basic phones to visit their classmates nearby who have smartphones and then copy the assignments from them. We have cautioned them to maintain proper social distancing and to compulsorily use masks and sanitisers. The aim is to reach out to maximum number of students during this lockdown. Even if we are able to reach out to about 50% students, it would mean that much less effort when schools reopen,” she added.
According to official sources, the basic education schools in UP are not likely to reopen before July.
The officials of the district basic education department said they have an enrolment of about 84,000 students in Ghaziabad schools (classes 1 to 8). According to them, some 880 groups have been created on WhatsApp for sharing content and they have further connected to students and parents as well for continuing studies during the lockdown.
Officials said one of the apps, ‘Diksha’, has 5,000 videos available for learning besides QR-codes for accessing e-books and e-content. The state government has also made arrangements for scheduled programmes on television and radio.
“The online content and classes are now available to our students through Doordarshan (UP), radio (All India Radio) and other online apps. The state government has also decided that students of all basic education department schools will be promoted to the next class this year as their examinations were held up due to lockdown,” Brij Bhushan Chaudhary, basic education officer, said.
Social activists have welcomed the move to have online teaching and learning for basic education school students. “A majority of children in these schools come from weaker sections of society. So, the government must focus on roping in IT firms so that connectivity issues that these children may face are resolved. Teachers should also be provided with more resources,” Vikrant Sharma, a social activist from Raj Nagar Extension, said.
