With schools closed and education being imparted only through online and on-air modes in the wake of the corona pandemic, a whopping 58,000 plus students enrolled in Class 9 to 12 in intermediate colleges of the Sangam city had no access to a smart phone, laptop, tablet or a TV, revealed a recent survey undertaken by the office of the district inspector of schools (DIoS).
These students accounted for 19% of the total enrolments in government-run, government-aided and unaided intermediate schools of the district, conceded officials.
The findings of the survey also indicated that a large number of students enrolled in these institutions were unable to benefit from academic content being provided online through YouTube as well as on-air through Swayam Prabha— a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting high-quality educational programmes 24X7, using the GSAT-15 satellite.
“These primary facts have emerged in the survey undertaken in the district to assess the reach to academic content being provided through various mediums during the pandemic in the last four months,” said RN Vishwakarma, DIoS,Prayagraj.
He said that the education department was committed to ensuring that each and every students enrolled in various institutions was able to get full benefit of the academic content being provided so that studies were not affected. “Even as we are trying to get every student to access online or on air education content, we are striving to get participation of different sections of society to help in this mission,” he added.
The comprehensive survey covered 1057 schools of Prayagraj, including 33 government-run, 181 government-aided and 843 unaided secondary schools. These institutions presently had 3,06,470 students, including 77,163 enrolled in Class 9, 1,06,793 in Class 10, 51,324 in Class 11 and 71,190 in Class 12, officials said.
The survey found that out of these, 61,590 students of Class 9, 91,350 of Class 10, 43,365 of Class 11 and 51,939 of Class 12 had access to smart phones, laptops, tablets, TV and internet connections.
