The General Education Department has issued an order for collection of data at the school level on students lacking facilities for accessing digital/online classes.
The order directs arrangements at the school, sub-district/education district, and district levels to address the shortage of digital facilities among students this year.
At the school level, data on students who do not have laptops, tablets, Internet connectivity, TV, cable/DTH connections; those without study material such as textbooks, notebooks, and stationery; and those without electricity connections at their homes should be collected and combined with data collected by Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, to prepare a school-level list.
By June 13
An action plan should be prepared to make available digital facilities to students who lack them, and the plans should be implemented by June 13. A teacher should be appointed as nodal officer to coordinate the school-level efforts. School-level meetings should be held to address the lack of facilities. The situation of every child should be reviewed for taking up necessary interventions.
Activities at the block and education district levels should be coordinated by assistant and district education officers. Participation of local bodies and people’s representatives should also be ensured, says the order.
District Collectors and district panchayat presidents should convene meetings by Sunday in which people’s representatives from all levels should participate to ensure better support for the efforts. On the basis of the school-level data, the meetings should ascertain how many students have not been able to view the classes telecast so far and issue directions for action at the department level.
Coordination committees led by Deputy Directors of Education should be formed in each district to ensure that the data collected is accurate; collect data on facilities required; determine places where facilities for students could be arranged; record the possibilities of making available facilities through sponsorship, and so on.
