Teachers ask education department to come up with backup plan

With uncertainty over schools reopening in June, teachers have urged the state education department to look come up with a contingency plan and consider the idea

With uncertainty over schools reopening in June, teachers have urged the state education department to look come up with a contingency plan and consider the idea of using television for teaching in case schools cannot open in June. A teachers group has sent a letter to education minister Varsha Gaikwad on the same.

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“Even as the government has announced a lockdown up to May 3, in areas such as Mumbai, Pune and other red zones, which still have new cases coming up, this will most likely be pushed further. In such a case, it might not be possible to reopen schools as per the usual schedule in June. Anticipating this, the government needs to have a plan in place for learning after the vacation period is over,” said Anil Bornare, president, BJP teacher’s wing, which has written to the government on Tuesday.

An official from the education department said talks are on with different stakeholders to ensure some slots are made available on UGC’s TV channel for remote learning. “This content will be made available soon,” said the official.

“We have to anticipate the issues that might arise in future or else a lot of time will be lost. Even in places where there is poor internet connectivity, TV is available,” said a teacher from a suburban school.

While the state education department has started circulating online learning material from the beginning of this month, it is yet to begin with online teaching. As vacations were announced for schools after April 15, teaching has not begun yet.