Teaching in Kashmir goes online, but low speed internet an issue

Students in Kashmir are keeping up with their academics bytaking to the online mode of education amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown,even as the clamour for the restoration of high-speed internet services hasgrown in view of the difficulties faced by them to access the study material.

In Kashmir, school education has been affected severely overthe last few months. First, there was no schooling in the valley for six monthslast year because of the situation following the abrogation of Article 370 bythe Centre. The schools reopened briefly in March only to be closed days laterbecause of the coronavirus scare.

   

However, to salvage the academic session, schools in thevalley took to various means, including online classes, to impart education tothe students.

Teachers from both the government as well as private schoolshave started delivering online lectures through various platforms likeWhatsApp, Zoom and Google Classroom among others.

Irfan Ahmad, a government school teacher in Ganderbaldistrict in central Kashmir, uses WhatsApp and Zoom applications daily to connectwith and deliver lessons to his students.

“It is the only option we have to replace the physicalclasses. I use these applications on a daily basis to deliver my lectures tothe students and to try to answer their questions,” Ahmad said.

He said the students have already been affected due to thesituation since August last year and there was a need to salvage the academicsession so that they do not lose much.

Touqeer Javaid, a student of Class 7 at a private school inGanderbal, logs on to Zoom application at 11 am daily to connect with hisclassmates and teachers.

“We start the class at 11 am. A few of my classmates,who have smartphones, are there and our teacher comes online to deliverlessons,” Javaid said.

He said while it does not feel like an actual class, it wasimportant to keep the education going.

“Education is important and in these times ofcompetition, we can hardly afford to miss our lessons. At least, we are gettingsomething,” he added.

Sehar Jan, a student of class 6 at a private school inSrinagar, said apart from the video-conferencing application Zoom, her schoolalso uses WhatsApp to deliver lessons and assignments to the students.

“We get regular assignments from the school which wework on and then submit back to the school. It keeps us involved at home aswell as helping in our education,” she said.

However, some parents complain that the schools were puttingthe students under tremendous pressure by way of too many assignments.

Recently, an audio clip went viral on social media where aparent complained that the schools were putting the students under too muchpressure.

“This is just a formality by the schools. They send toomany assignments on a daily basis. It is not humane. They are putting too muchpressure on the children as well as their parents. They are giving them morework than they actually do at the schools,” the parent complained.

Assignments are not the only issue of complaint by thestudents or the parents. Many of them lament the slow network speed whichhamper the online classes and delivery of assignments.

“The internet speed at 2G is very low and it becomesvery difficult to attend the online classes. Sometimes, we do not even see theteacher clearly and often we miss whatever he says,” Irtiqa, a student,said.

A private school owner in the city here acknowledged thedifficulties faced by the students as well as teachers and went on to say thatthe online classes were just for the sake of formality.

The problems are more in far flung or rural areas wherebroadband internet penetration is very low and the people have to rely onerratic 2G mobile internet.

“I have a broadband connection at home which makes mylife a little easier while delivering lectures. However, many students in myschool face problems due to slow network speed. Most of the times, I do notunderstand what they say,” Ahmad, the government school teacher inGanderbal district, said.

In a tweet recently, principal secretary School Education department,government of Jammu and Kashmir, Asgar Samoon acknowledged that low internetspeed was hampering online education as the department released funds fordistributing books among the students of Classes 1 to 8 in the union territory.

“kids have no ipads/no access to desktops; cantdownload text books as internet is slow; Rs 2030.87 lac released for 1st-8thclasses; DSEJ Rs 1105.44 lac & DSEk Rs. 925.43 lac; kmr div/ distributedbooks; remaining Jmu districts-dsej/ ceos/zeos to expedite in 2 wks (sic),”Samoon said.

Private Schools Association Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) hasfiled a petition in the Supreme Court contending that the lack of 4Gconnectivity for internet in Jammu and Kashmir is infringing the fundamentalright to education.

PSAJK president G N Var said while about 70 per cent of2,675 private schools in the valley have started online classes for theirstudents, they were facing problems due to connectivity issues.

To deal with the problems due to internet speeds,Directorate of School Education, Kashmir, is starting educational broadcast(audio classes) for the students of the valley, the officials said.

They said the broadcast is being organized in collaborationwith All India Radio, Srinagar.

Director, School Education, Kashmir, Mohammad Younis Maliksaid these platforms have been kept available for the children so that they donot feel isolated and can continue with their studies while staying at theirhome due to the lock down.

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