For Covid, Kerala school’s go online, but 260 thousand children have no computers

6.1% of 4.3 million students are deprived of any type of access to information technology. However, Covid-19 has pushed the government and several NGOs to help the less fortunate to have greater access to high-tech studies. Several organizations have taken the initiative to distribute laptops and tablets.

Gavi (AsiaNews) - When the European school closes, students start their academic studies here in India. This year, due to the pandemic, most Indian states have postponed the reopening of schools. But the state of Kerala has shown once again that children's education does not necessarily have to be postponed. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, following the directives issued by the central government's Ministry of Health, the government of Kerala could conduct all pending exams of classes X to XII and university students smoothly.

The new academic year also started through "First Bell" - a government initiative to conduct virtual lessons for all grades, following a specific calendar for each grade and broadcasting them through an educational channel, YouTube and an app.

Unfortunately, this initiative revealed that even in a state that claims to have the highest literacy rate (94%) among all other Indian states, it has emerged that over 260,000 students do not have computers or smartphones. (In the photo, a university student on the roof of his house, to get the right signal of online lessons).

This means that 6.1% of 4.3 million students (those attending state or government-assisted schools and the total number of students will be much higher when adding those attending private schools) are deprived of any kind of access to information technology in their families.

speaking to AsiaNews V. Kumar, counselor in the Gavi, Vandiperiyar Panchayath municipality, says: “The situation is truly fragile, we only have one elementary school in Gavi, the forest area, attended by a limited number of students. Despite all the initiatives taken by the government, it is difficult to reach this area with virtual lessons. "Panchayath (the municipality) is 26 kilometers from Gavi and is the closest city for people scattered in the forest area. And students from the village of Gavi (pictured) had to travel 2 kilometers in search of the network to listen to online lessons.

According to Kumar, “however, there is a weekly visit by a medical officer from the city to check on people's health situation. Despite the lack of facilities, Gavi always remains a nice place, but with limited access, for tourism. However, Covid-19 has pushed the government and several NGOs to help the less fortunate to have greater access to high-tech studies. Several organizations have taken the initiative to distribute laptops and tablets so that a small group of students can gather in centers such as public libraries to attend virtual lessons initiated by the government.