Karnataka govt schools await nod to conduct classes on TV for better rural reach

While online classes are on in full swing for students in private schools, their counterparts in the government academic institutions are deprived of the same.

Last month, students from the government schools did a poster campaign to highlight the ramifications of being kept away from studies.

While a Rs 30 crore proposal for conducting classes on television is waiting for government nod, more than 40 lakh students are waiting for their studies to be resumed.

Commissioner of the department of public instruction, Dr K G Jagadish, however, said that the government had now come up with a new scheme for students of government schools. "As of now, we have a scheme called Vidyagama wherein if a child has access, the teacher will take classes online and if not, the teachers will have to go to their houses to conduct classes," he said.

However, the scene is far from what the government states.

Vidya (name changed) from a government school in Jalahalli said that while students from private schools have access to online classes they have neither television sets at home nor smart phones.

She says, "We never imagined that government schools will be ignored to this extent. The government must know that even in SSLC, students from government schools have performed well."

Another student Nuksana in Agrahara layout who will join Class 10 is wondering what the government will do next to impart education to students in government schools.

"Since childhood, I have been studying in a government school and have no access to either smartphones or television," she says.

Nirmala, an activist working for the upliftment of children from the underprivileged society commented that neither the government has neither fulfilled the promised television channels nor any move to continue the studies of students have been made.

"The condition is worse in regions like Raichur and Kodagu. We have sent a letter to the state government in which we have asked the government to provide educational aid to children to prevent them from dropping out. There are students outside Bengaluru for whom even possession of a TV set is a luxury," she said.

The situation of the government school teachers in Bengaluru is equally bad as some of them have to visit the houses of their students to assign homework.

"We have to go to schools everyday only to register attendance and from there we go to the houses of students to give them assignments. Some of us board BMTC buses where hardly any social distancing is maintained. There is no logic in us going to schools as no sessions are recorded. Neither students nor the teachers are benefitted. A few students will sit in groups and we take classes. Next day we have to check their homework as well. If we do not comply with the rules, we could be suspended," a primary government teacher told Deccan Chronicle.