BHOPAL: There may be shortcomings in the government delivery system, but, during Covid-19, the school education department and the higher education department were successful in reaching and teaching students when physical contacts were forbidden. Covid-19 paved the way for online learning for 2021.
Translating adversity into opportunity, the school education department created its own YouTube channel in June 2020 and it has witnessed more than 3.39 crore views since its inception. At present, it has more than 1.5 lakh subscribers. Its pages on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, are abuzz with activities.
Twitter and Facebook
The social media handle of the school education department on Twitter has 94.2K followers and 104K on Facebook. The reach and success can be judged by the fact that the Facebook Live session conducted by the principal secretary and commissioner with parents, teachers and students witnessed 3.11 lakh views. The school education department also conducted 23 webinars from June 26 to November 18 and had 31.86 lakh views.
WhatsApp groups
Moreover, the school education department created 50,000 WhatsApp groups consisting of parents, teachers and students. In this manner, the department reached 1.28 lakh people of the state. These numbers demonstrate the success story of the school education department. Even college going students adopted the online mode and accessed various online chapters.
A section, however, has criticised that only 50% of the students had accessed online classes, but they forget that 50% of the students converted to online classes, as well. Efforts are on to migrate other students, as well, to online classes.
‘No other option’
"We knew we had no other option than to teach online. The biggest challenge was to change the mindset of the teachers, students and parents. Many learned about online means only after our online programmes. Digital learning programmes were made to train parents and students," said Lokesh Jatav, commissioner, Rajya Shiksha Kendra.
‘Unprecedented situation’
"It was an unprecedented situation that the world was facing. Our adaptation to it was quick. At present, all study material is available for free online and a student can access it from anywhere, anytime," retired principal AK Jain said.
‘Generating online content’
"A lot of online content was generated during the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown. Hits and reach of our websites and social media pages demonstrate that students shifted from in-class to online classes," remarked Anupam Rajan, principal secretary, higher education department.