Amid frequent closure of educational institutions in Kashmir, the private school association Kashmir (PSAK) has decided to introduce home based online classes for students from kindergarten to class 12th by roping in companies like Microsoft, Tech Avant and Efeeonline.
“This new reformative initiative will be introduced in all private schools from the new academic session. We will also submit a proposal to government to start this online initiative in government schools,” said GN Var, President PSAK while addressing a press conference here. The CEO of Tech Avant Gard, Ali Sait was also present in the press conference.
Var said the initiative has been taken to counter academic losses from frequent closure of schools in Kashmir due to government orders or shutdown calls. “This IT enabled solutions in educational institutes of Kashmir will counter the closure of educational institutes and will also increase working days,” he said.
From the past three years educational institutions have recorded lesser number of working days in Kashmir due to frequent closures ordered by the government “to avoid law and order situation.” Var said PSAK has entered into a partnership with companies like Tech Avant-Garde, Microsoft and Efee online and adopted the MASP PRO Program to empower teachers and students.
The CEO of Tech Avant Gard, Ali Sait said the company will provide all IT support to private schools and also provide Microsoft apps to the students and teachers. “The basic requirement for a school is to have hardware. Each school will be charged Rs 25000 for software and we will also train teachers of the schools as well,” Sait said, adding that the company is already connected with 15 other states where students and teachers are connected with teaching practices. “We have come to Kashmir because this state has a lot of potential which gets wasted due to frequent closure of institutions. We have not come here to sell our software but want to serve the society,” he said.
Sait said the software will work through Edu Net, the private internet facility, in case the government orders suspension of internet services in Kashmir. “Edu-Net is private internet and related to education only and it can work smoothly even when local internet is snapped,” he said.
G N Var said the school teachers and students will be given free software of office Pro and 0365 for home usage, which is worth Rs 25000. “Schools will bear 80 percent cost of the software and students will be charged only Rs 2000 per year that too in monthly installments,” said Var.