Kerala's First Bell virtual classes through KITE Victers channel crosses 1,000 sessions

The 'First Bell', the virtual classes introduced by the State Education Department through KITE (Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education) Victers educational channel has now crossed over 1,000 sessions.

The initiative was launched on June 1, 2020 as an interim arrangement (and not as an alternate class) in the backdrop of the state schools remaining closed due to COVID-19 pandemic and this unique initiative has ensured that not even a single student will miss out any classes during these testing times. Through the First Bell program, 604 classes were aired through KITE Victers channel in addition to 274 Kannada medium classes and 163 Tamil medium classes telecasted through local cable networks in the state.

In addition to the viewership of classes through the channel mode, the web-streaming platform of KITE Victers (www.victers.kite.kerala.gov.in) has also seen tremendous response which is evident from that fact that as many as 442 TeraByte data has been reported from 141 countries. The monthly views of the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/itsvicters) is 150 Million (15 Cr). The average daily viewership of classes in youtube alone is 54 lakhs, which translates to a whopping 5 lakh hours a day.

Despite limited advertisements, the advertisement revenue stands at an average of Rs 15 lakhs per month. The classes are also broadcasted through Facebook 'LIVE' on the Facebook page of the channel www.facebook.com/victerseduchannel.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several places in the state, including the capital, have been made hotspots restricting the movement of people, which impacts the preparation of classes. To tackle this crisis, KITE has made arrangements for the preparation of classes from different districts. "To supplement this decentralised process, KITE has planned to provide necessary support through the 2,000 plus schools where Little KITEs units have been set-up," said K Anvar Sadath, Chief Executive Officer, KITE.

At present, augmented reality and virtual reality are being used as much as possible, which would be expanded in due course. The schools would be making use of the free software applications for developing the classes to be aired through KITE Victers channel. New classes of general nature, beyond subjects and including sports will be ready in the time table from August.