After the reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, the Primary and Secondary Education Department has come up with a set of guidelines to reach out to the kids both online and offline and keep the continuity of their learning process. On June 10, 2021, the number of COVID-19 cases stood at 11, 042.
As per the guidelines of the Education Department, the schools are supposed to start admissions or enrollment of children from June 15, 2021 as the schools are likely to reopen from July 1, 2021. The officials at the district, taluk, municipal and panchayat level have been asked to identify children who lack mobile phones, internet connectivity and even access to the television. At the same time, the officials are supposed to collect data on the education qualification of their parents. In the absence of both father and mother, they must check if anybody living close to the house of a child can help them in the process of learning. This process must be completed from June 15 to June 30. All this data must be uploaded on the Student Tracking System portal mandatorily.
The guidelines also suggest that these students must be divided into two different groups. While one group will be identified as the ones having access to mobile phones and television, another group will be identified as the ones who doesn't have access to any of these gadgets. The mode of education and method will vary accordingly. Not just collecting data, the guidelines also strictly mandate that teachers must meet parents personally and communicate to them how online classes would work and why it is important for their kids.
As per the guidelines issued by the Education department, the following must be followed for students who don't have access to any gadgets:
- The officials or teachers of a particular school must check if the neighbours have television at their home and if they have access to DD Chandana. In such cases, with the permission of parents as well as the neighbours, the student must be allowed to watch the classes that appear on DD Chandana.
- The teachers must identify people living close to the children's home and if they can provide their mobile number. The person must be willing to help children in continuing their learning process. If so, such contacts can be used to download videos from Doordarshan or DD Chandana on the phone so that they can be watched even when they are offline.
- If the children have a radio at their home, they can listen to the lessons on FM channel over the radio.
- Teachers and principal have to decide or a plan a particular day and provide children with the worksheets and assignments to complete. Teachers must also explain to children how to use those worksheets or even solve the problems in them.
- After children return these worksheets and assignments, it is mandatory for the teachers to mark them and maintain a separate report card for each child. These marks will be useful in calculating the grades of children in the coming days. Meanwhile, the principal must work to create a group of 10 to 15 kids and assign a teacher as a mentor for them.
Guidelines for children who have television at home and have access to keypad mobiles:
- In the case of children having access to DD Chandana, teachers must not only ask children to watch classes but they must guide children on how to proceed with lessons and clear their doubts. DSERT will allocate the particular days for teacher to reach out to their kids.
- In case of children having access to keypad phones, they must be told to listen to the recordings or live classes that happen on radio. Teachers must keep in touch with these kids and check on their learning progress every now and then.
Guidelines for children who have access to internet on android phone or smart phones:
- Besides watching the classes available on Samveda on Doordarshan and listening to the FM radio, these children must access Diksha portal that has access to online content for all the subjects. Teachers must record videos of different lessons and upload them to the YouTube channel called Makkala Vani. Videos for atleast 50 days must be uploaded.
- Worksheets must be given to these children on a daily basis through Whatsapp and like other students, a separate report must be maintained for each child.
- These students must also be told to access Energized Textbook (ETB) is a feature aimed at providing access to digital content for various topics in physical textbooks. On DIKSHA, books are compiled or curated from school books or any book that conform to syllabi of state or central board (CBSE) or any recognised institution or publication, such as NCERT in the said medium of instruction and language. Based on a predetermined understanding, QR codes are attached to physical textbooks and related content is created on DIKSHA. This document explains the procedure of scanning QR Codes in DIKSHA and accessing related content using QR code.
