27% Central School students have no access to smartphones, laptops for online classes: NCERT

Guwahati: Amid the ongoing pandemic, the schools and educational institutions across the nation have switched to online classes to overcome the losses. However, all is not roses as far as the online classes in our country are concerned.

Now, the NCERT has released a survey which showed that around 27 percent students do not have access to smartphones or laptops to attend online classes, while 28 percent students and parents believe lack of electricity is one of the major concerns hindering teaching-learning.

Notably, the NCERT conducted its survey with over 34,000 participants, including students, parents, teachers and school principals from Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodyaya Vidyalas, and CBSE affiliated schools.

The survey found that lack of knowledge of using devices for effective educational purposes and teachers not being well-versed with online teaching methodologies caused hindrance in the learning process.

The Ministry of Education, as part of its 'Students Learning Enhancement Guidelines', stated that at least 33 percent felt online learning was either "difficult" or "burdensome".

"Approximately 27 percent of the students mentioned the non-availability of smartphones and laptops. The maximum number of stakeholders have opted for mobile phones as a medium for teaching-learning during the COVID-19 period," the survey by the NCERT survey said.

"About 36 % of the students used the textbooks and other books available with them. Laptops were the second most favored option amongst teachers and principals. Television and radio were the least utilized devices for the teaching-learning in the pandemic situation. The absence of enriched interaction between the teacher and the students was one of the reasons as identified by the stakeholders," it stated.

The NCERT survey revealed that almost all of the responsive states use physical (non-digital) mechanisms to track the progress of learners with the majority of them either practicing home visits by teachers or systematic parental guidance via phone calls.

"About half of the students stated that they did not have the school textbooks. Although the e-textbooks are available on NCERT website and DIKSHA, the probable reasons behind this feedback is that students are used to studying from the hardcopy of the textbooks, there is lack of awareness regarding the availability of the e-textbook and paucity of devices with students and teachers," it further added.

The majority of the stakeholders noted that mathematics as a subject was difficult to learn via online medium.

Union Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhryal informed that the guidelines will help children, who do not have access to digital resources, to get learning opportunities at their homes, with their teachers or volunteers.

The minister also stated that the guidelines and models are suggested for three types of situations. "Firstly, in which students do not have any digital resources. Secondly, in which students have limited digital resources available. Lastly, in which students have digital resources available for online education," he said.

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