A visit to the Gopalpur primary school is enough to know how students are getting online classes in Kalahandi owing to poor internet connection.
Poor connectivity has forced the students to sit in "Prahari Mandap" set up opposite of the school.
An android phone of a teacher along with a sound box is used to attend a pre recorded class by the students. Those sitting in front of the mobile phone can view the 3/6 inches screen and rest of the students listen to the audio. Teachers say once the online class from youtube is downloaded it is transferred so that absentees could learn from it at their homes. But unfortunately the mobile is not available with all of them because parents cannot afford the price.
“In the rural pockets people generally have only one phone which is taken away either by mother or father while going for daily work.
The parents who cannot afford android set use keypad phone which cannot access online classes,” said assistant teacher of the school Manas Ranjan Deep. Sarita, student of class V says her parents refused to buy an android set for her despite repeated demand. Another teacher, Arvind Sabar said the Gopalpur primary school had won the “Garima Award” in 2020 but for poor internet connection, students’ talent is suppressed. Parents of 10 students have android phones and the internet cannot be accessed at their homes.
The connectivity is either poor or totally zero in the schools located in Madhupur, Bhaluchanchara, Jamguda, Talbeda under Gobardhanpur Gram Panchayat in Lanjigarh block. In the remote pockets of Lanjigarh block, students trek 2-3 km in the hilly areas to access the internet connection. A villager, Sanatan Majhi, said students’ career would be ruined unless mobile towers are set up in the region.District Education Officer (DEO) of Kalahandi, Susanta Kumar Chopdar said out of 13 blocks in the district, remote pockets of Lanjigarh and Thuamul Rampur blocks are surrounded by hills; so people have either poor or zero connectivity.“We have received complaints many times that students trek hilly areas to connect to the network and the scenario is quite pathetic,” he said adding the problems have been communicated with the higher officials of the State. In Kalahandi, there are 2,303 schools including high schools. Both the blocks, i.e. Lanjigarh and Thuamul Rampur, have around 400 schools. Even schools of Jaipatna and Koksara blocks face the poor internet connectivity. However, efforts are on to resolve the issue as a meeting led by Home Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra was conducted recently in this regard where a decision was taken that a device would be installed in some selected high schools for internet connectivity where students will take part in online classes.
At present companies like BSNL, JIO and Airtel are providing the service but in remote pockets lack of towers has hampered the students’ online classes, the DEO added.