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Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class

In seven days, Arya, a 47-year-old physical education teacher at Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Kiran Vihar, traced around 100 such students who do not have smartphones or Internet facility at home and could not be reached out by any means.

Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class
Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class

     

Armed with a microphone and a loudspeaker, Ajay Arya, a Delhi government school teacher has been visiting colonies and slum clusters in parts of north east Delhi since last week, looking for students who are not in touch with their schools ever since the physical classes suspended in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In seven days, Arya, a 47-year-old physical education teacher at Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Kiran Vihar, traced around 100 such students who do not have smartphones or Internet facility at home and could not be reached out by any means.

“Are there any students enrolled in government schools who neither attend online classes nor collect assignment sheets from schools that live here? I have a list of students who are not reachable on phone. Please help me locate them,” announces Arya on the microphone. After locating the address of a student, he counsels him/her and his/her parents about ongoing virtual learning in schools.

Schools across Delhi have resorted to conducting online classes, sending links to study material via WhatsApp and emails and SMS after the Covid-19 pandemic, and an ensuing lockdown, forced them to physically shut down.

The links are sent by the schools to the mobile phones of the parents of the students.

Due to the existing digital divide, government and civic bodies run schools have also started giving hard copies of assignment sheets to students, who do not have digital devices.However, despite all efforts, many schools said that some students could not be reached out via phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages.

From making door-to-door visits to find such students, to sending letters and assignments to their postal addresses, government schools in the national capital are making extra efforts to reach out to such students .

For instance, Harpreet Kaur, principal of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Tilak Nagar said that her school had formed area-wise teams of support staff and School Management Committee (SMC) members to search for students missing online classes.

“Within a week of starting the drive (started last week) we managed to trace 50% of the 112 students who were completely out of contact. Our teachers took extra efforts and joined WhatApp groups of the feeder MCD schools of Class 6 students to connect with them,” she said.

A senior official in Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia’s office, who wished not to be named, said, “Our teachers are making extra efforts to trace students. Overall 20-30% Class 6 students who have been shifted from MCD schools are still out of contact. Overall hardly 5-10% students will be there who are still not in touch.”

Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class
Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class
Govt schools step up efforts to bring kids back to class

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