Kerala commences fresh academic year online amidst COVID-19

Even as Kerala continues to be in the grip of COVID, the fresh academic year commenced in the state as usual on June 1, but through online platforms.

While over 40 lakh students from standard one to higher-secondary, except plus-one, of 12,500 odd schools in the state syllabus were offered classes through the state government's education channel Victers, around 1,200 CBSE and ICSE schools have developed own online platforms. Colleges also commenced classes through different online platforms.

As directed by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, arrangements are being made by teachers and other agencies involved to ensure that all students are having access to the virtual classrooms. A preliminary assessment found that about 2.5 lakh students lacked facilities to access the virtual classrooms.

Anwar Sadat, executive director of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education that runs the Victers channel told DH that roughly there were around 30 lakh viewers for the channel on Monday. The teachers will be personally interacting with each student to ensure that they have access to the channel. At places where no access is available, arrangements would be made in association with local bodies or other agencies. In places like tribal hamlets, common facilities would be set up so that more than one student could view at a time by ensuring social distancing.

Different time-slots with duration ranging from 30 minutes to two-hour have been fixed. There would be re-telecast also. Apart from TV, Victers channel could be accessed through the internet as well. Online modules are prepared by various agencies under the state education department. Textbooks were also provided online.