Students from Ballari have fallen behind in adopting a modern educational system that has been replaced by a lockdown imposed to contain the Covid infection. Most of the students in the rural areas have access to smartphones, internet access, friends, relatives’ mobile phones, WiFi, and students who cannot have any access have written a sample questionnaire and prepared for the test.
The state government, which has imposed the Covid Lockdown has shut closed the schools and colleges and has allowed the online classes with a touch of modern technology in order to prevent any disruption to the education of the children.
However, this fast-paced educational system has not reached students as expected. Smartphone, especially the poorest of the rural, has caused many problems without adequate internet access.
There were no smartphones among the poor in rural areas. While some students have parents who bought them smart devices, some students have worked for themselves and bought the phone for themselves. Some students who do not have a smartphone go to a neighbour’s house or a friend’s house to attend online class every day.
Also, students who have a smartphone are attending an online class asking parents if they don’t have time to pay, give or do not have time to recharge for the internet every month. Despite all this, there is sometimes a problem with an adequate network. Teaching students who face a series of problems is hectic to even teachers.
“The doubts we hear are not unheard of for teachers. Thus, online classrooms are not adequately reached. The lack of knowledge of the parents of the students is attributed to the lack of online education”, says a teacher.
