Thane teachers go the extra mile to help their students

Seventeen-year-old Gaurangi Patil, a resident of Bhiwandi, is unable to attend online classes as her family cannot afford internet connectivity. However, she has

Seventeen-year-old Gaurangi Patil, a resident of Bhiwandi, is unable to attend online classes as her family cannot afford internet connectivity. However, she has been able to keep up with her peers thanks to her teachers going the distance to provide her with study material.

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Like Patil, many students from poor financial backgrounds would be unable to get an education during the lockdown if it wasn’t for extra efforts taken by their teachers.

“Initially attended a few classes, however, I noticed that my family was struggling to make ends meet and I did not want to burden them further for internet access. My parents are daily-wage workers; we have not had any steady income since the lockdown has been implemented. The first week after classes began, I had to miss out on lectures one by one as my data pack got over too soon,” said Patil.

After she shared her trouble with her teacher, she was provided with recorded videos of the online sessions and her teachers also offered to be available on call to solve any of her doubts.

Nitin Barve, professor, BK Birla College, Kalyan, said, “It has been hardly a week since online classes commenced for college students, but we have noticed that many of them are facing connectivity issues. Moreover, there are a handful of students who are not able to attend lectures due to their financial situation; we have helped by paying for their internet charges.”

Meanwhile, a Shahapur-based couple who teaches in a zilla parishad school is taking extra efforts to ensure students from Varyachapada village within Thane district, are getting an education. The internet connectivity is weak in this village as it is in a tribal area and most families do not have smartphones. With the commencement of online classes, Pramod Patole and his wife Sharmila prepared notes based on the syllabus and started visiting the homes of their students to provide the study material.

“We gathered different explanation methods and easy-to-understand concepts for students of Class 1 to Class 5. We started taking printouts of these materials along with test papers as well. Twice a week, we visit the houses of the students to provide the materials and collect the previous test papers. These tests help us understand if the student can grasp the study material well,” said Patole.

“The material has a lot of illustrations and pictures that make the information easier to understand. Moreover, teachers help solve doubts when they visit us. During every visit, the teacher brings a question paper based on the previous day’s teachings,” said Rishabh Pawar, a Class 3 student from Varyachapada Zilla Parishad School.

Thane Municipal Corporation conducts online admission for civic schools

Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) education department has shifted admissions online for the first time and is providing application forms on the civic body’s website. This has been introduced so that people need not step out of their homes for admissions.

“We had already started our admission process before the lockdown began; we have now given this additional facility to those who may have missed out. Keeping in mind the current situation, we have gone online,” said Rajesh Kankal, education officer, TMC.