Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on November 18, said that the state is leading in the country when it comes to providing online education to children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He said in a Facebook post that 91 per cent of those in rural areas of Kerala were able to continue their studies with the help of technology, as opposed to only 24.2 per cent across the country.

The Minister was referring to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2021, which was released on November 17. Vijayan said that according to ASER 2021, Kerala has implemented the best online education in the country. He added that teachers and parents worked together to achieve this goal.

Kerala is far ahead of most other states in this regard, he said and added that the state government's 'Vidya Kiranam' project was one of the initiatives that helped overcome the problem of the digital divide.

The CM also said that the state is continuously working to wipe away the digital divide and soon, all children in Kerala will be able to access online education. He said that the closure of schools had affected studies and was amongst some of the most serious crises that the pandemic brought along.