Thane, Kalyan civic schools uncertain on conducting online classes

While online education is possible for most private schools in the new academic year, the civic schools in Thane and Kalyan are still struggling to set up a system.

While online education is possible for most private schools in the new academic year, the civic schools in Thane and Kalyan are still struggling to set up a system. While many civic school teachers in Thane are occupied with conducting Covid-19 surveys; the teachers in Kalyan are unable to reach out to the students as many belong to migrant families, and have left the city.

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“We cannot make online classes compulsory; hence we are ensuring that textbooks are made available to students so that they can prepare for the next academic year. Teachers are putting in efforts, but we are not able to reach out to all students,” said E Tadvi, education officer, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).

In the current situation, many are unable to recharge their phone, while some do not have a compatible phone. “We are unable to trace all the students, however, we do send them weekly assignments on phone. Many students who do not have access to the internet are asked to do their revision through the week and share the answers with us on messaging platforms,” said a 45-year-old KDMC school teacher.

Most teachers under Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) are occupied with Covid-19 health surveys. “Most of our teachers are busy with health surveys, so we have not made it compulsory for them to conduct classes. Some teachers who are conducting online classes, we have provided them with common online revision links,” said Rajesh Kankal, education officer, TMC. A few teachers from TMC have also received training for technology-driven teaching modules for the next academic year.

However, the parents complain that they cannot afford internet services for their children. Hence, most of the students will miss out on academics this year.

Sidhi Mahale, 32, parent of two boys, eight and 10 years old, studying in civic school at Lokmanya Nagar, Thane, said, “We are staying in a containment zone. Getting basic groceries has become difficult for us. We cannot pay for internet services and have only one smartphone in the family. It is difficult to teach the children in such circumstances.”