Nisar Dharma
Srinagar: ‘Ye All India Radio hai, ab aap apni class suniye (This is All India Radio, tune in to listen to your class’. This may sound a weird script for a radio broadcast but come next week, the students in Kashmir are expected to be up for something like it.
Amid continued 4G suspension in J&K leaving students with little or no options of a sound digital platform to connect to schools, the Directorate of School Education, Kashmir, has decided to start radio classes for students from next week.
In an official statement, the Directorate Saturday said the broadcast is being organized in collaboration with All India Radio (AIR), Srinagar.
“The Educational Broadcast will enable students to learn through the medium of radio while sitting in their homes,” read the statement.
Teachers, in this new arrangement, will be delivering lessons as per the curriculum and the same will reach to students through radio. The lessons will be aired on All India Radio, Srinagar during day time for which the time slots have already been specified by the station.
The idea behind the initiative, the statement added, is to “engage the students and to reach out to them while they are confined to their homes due to nationwide lockdown announced in view of Covid-19 pandemic.”
Interestingly, until recently, the education department was using ‘Zoom’ application to connect to the students through video conferencing, however, given the lack of high-speed internet and major security issues with the application, the authorities, it seems, have dropped the idea altogether.
To mention, DSEK has started tele-classes from March 26 through Kashir channel of Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar and presently two classes are aired daily on DDK covering the syllabus of elementary and secondary classes.
While two more classes are going to be added to this chunk on Kashir channel from next week taking the number of tele-classes to four on daily basis.
More classes are being added taking the number to eight classes, which will be telecasted through DDK and All India Radio daily for the students.
In addition to this, the Directorate of School Education has connected to a large number of students through its digital platform and video classes have been kept available for students on its YouTube channel which is linked to the official website of DSEK. Not only this, the DSEK has also made available online classes for students.
Director, School Education, Kashmir, Mohammad Younis Malik said that these platforms have been kept available for children so that they do not feel isolated and can continue with their studies while staying at their home due to lockdown. He said that the Directorate is exploring every possibility to reach out to the students online and offline so that their studies do not suffer due to corona virus outbreak
Besides, home assignments have also been delivered to the students through at their doorsteps and presently they are working on the same. In order to ease out the mental stress of students caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Directorate has established a helpdesk for complete counselling of students.
Not only students, but teachers and parent also seek advice and guidance regarding Covid-19, mental stress and career options of students at this helpdesk where experts, clinical psychologists and career counsellors reply to the queries of students online and on call.
