CBSE’s online textbooks catch fancy of city students, teachers

Introduction of online textbooks by CBSE for Classes 1 to 12 will help students who do not have access to or don’t have resources to buy books or attend extra coaching, said city’s education experts and students.

Introduction of online textbooks by CBSE for Classes 1 to 12 will help students who do not have access to or don’t have resources to buy books or attend extra coaching, said city’s education experts and students.

The Central Board of Secondary Education’s latest online site http://cbse.nic.in/ ecbse/index.html and mobile application E-CBSE is being seen as an endeavour to enrich students and teachers by providing learning and teaching material.

Commenting on the initiative, local academician Arvind Goyal said, “It will be especially useful for students who don’t have access to or don’t have resources to buy books or attend extra coaching. This will help expand the academic horizons of the students. More lectures, covering more topics, should be uploaded so that the subjects are covered in totality.”

LECTURES IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES

Moreover, the lectures on E-Pathshala are in English, Hindi and Urdu, which in turn can prove to be helpful for those residing in the rural areas. E-Pathshala, a web portal, hosts educational material for students, teachers, parents, researchers and educators, is also available through especially developed mobile app.

Sanju, a student of Class 8 of government school at Manimajra, said, “I think this is the best utility of digitalisation. I am happy that it has the option for Hindi textbooks as well.”

Principal, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, Harbir Anand said, “Although it’s a noble initiative, but how it will help students of the government schools is yet to be seen. Everyone cannot afford a smartphone here and provision of other facilities can also be a concern.” On the other hand, Parminder Kaur, principal, Guru Harkrishen Public School, said, “There are many underprivileged students studying in our school. We have been trying to provide them free-of-cost books, for which we were spending a hefty amount. Now, they can download and take printouts in the smart class.” She also said it will prove to be extremely helpful for preparation of competitive exams by Class 11 and 12 students.

Similarly, Harsimran Kaur, principal of the Gurukul, Panchkula, said, “It will be a boon since National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books are mostly unavailable in the market at the beginning of the session every year.”