Govt will extend policy of online education till pandemic is around, House told

NT NETWORK Panaji

Coming out with the information that no survey has been conducted as regards the online education in Goa, especially the network connectivity, the government on Wednesday informed the state legislative assembly that it will extend its policy of online/ distance education, and further continue with the current arrangements of holding classes for various standards in schools, till the time the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Goa.

“The Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) is however used to provide connectivity to most of the schools,” it added.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, informed the House, “The department of education has noted that out of 1,533 extended GBBN locations that is government departments, corporations, schools and colleges, altogether 1,292 extended locations are working, while 241 extended locations are not working, which include schools, colleges and educational institutes.”

 “The government is planning to take up these locations for rectification and the same is under process,” he added.

The written reply further stated, “The department of education has also taken up Wi-Fi connectivity at village panchayats and the department has provided Wi-Fi connectivity for 6 village panchayats on pilot basis through GBBN.”

“Furthermore, the department of education has floated a tender to discover bandwidth charges with Internet Service Provider (ISP), which is under approval,” it maintained, informing that the department is also planning to provide Wi-Fi connectivity at remote village panchayats, in order to ensure uninterrupted and consistent internet connectivity.

The House was informed that in addition, the department of education is in process of identifying locations for providing Wi-Fi internet connectivity, where there is no mobile coverage. Among other things, the department has drafted the Goa Telecom Policy 2020, in order to ease the installation of mobile towers thereby ensuring good quality internet networks across Goa, especially in remote and hilly areas, and has also applied for Bharatnet funding to department of telecom, government of India, so as to increase the internet penetration in villages.

A helpdesk with 2 helpline numbers 08767833497 and 09390200100 have been made operational for government departments, schools, colleges and educational institutes, to facilitate day-to-day recording of the network-related issues faced by the department users.

The Chief Minister further informed that school teachers have been well equipped with equipment required for online teaching such as laptops, smart phone etc, as also training was provided to them.

“The schools from class V to class XII have been instructed to use online mode as well as alternative mode of communication depending upon availability of equipment with the students for their continuous learning,” he informed, adding that for primary level, teachers are using worksheets to communicate with students by involving parents, while for upper primary and high schools, detailed instructions have been issued to use alternative mode of communication for continuous learning.

Stating that from the month of May 2020 to July 2020, all teachers from primary schools to higher secondary schools have been trained, the written reply said that the training is particularly aimed at handling the technical aspects of various tools, which are available freely for online teaching.

 “The training was first initiated for teachers and then the teachers imparted training to students while conducting their online classes,” it mentioned, informing that now all those who are having electronic gadgets are in a position to follow the instructions of the teachers as well as operate online tools freely for the regular classes.

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