The Class XII students of the Vocational Higher Secondary School, Pirappancode in Thiruvananthapuram were in for a surprise. They were part of a trial online Chemistry class using G Suite for Education. Suddenly, they noticed a new attendee in the class. It was V Sivankutty, Kerala's Minister of General Education.

For a good few minutes, the minister attended the lecture keenly, trying to grasp the intricacies of the subject. According to a statement from the ministry, the goal was to understand how well the new platform was functioning. Sivankutty had previously spoken about improving the quality of online education so that the students and teachers interact seamlessly.

"The students told the minister that the platform, which provides an opportunity to interact directly with teachers and meet friends, is very useful. Responding to them, he said that the state is trying to implement the most effective software and will start online classes only after ensuring that all students have access to technology to attend online classes," says the statement.

Along with the minister, the Director-General of Education, Jeevan Babu, KITE CEO K Anwar Sadath and VHSE Deputy Director Anil Kumar also attended the class. Last year, owing to the pandemic, lectures we made available to the students in Kerala through the government's KITE VICTERS channel. However, this time around, the government is now gearing up to implement only online classes until schools reopen.