KOCHI: The latest editorial of Sathyadeepam, the weekly run by Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Church, has pointed out the failure on the part of government in resolving the issues of students who are yet to get access to online education.
The editorial titled ‘Fill in the blanks’ stated that even as schools and colleges came home in the Covid scenario, knowledge is still inaccessible to some students.
The reasons vary from network connectivity issues, non-availability of smartphones and lack of technical skills in students in handling web pages.
“The results of a survey show that 12% of students don’t have TV sets while 14% do not have phones. As per the government’s reports of May 2021, 87,000 students do not have facilities for online classes. Among them, 49,000 do not even have access to internet,” said the editorial.
The editorial also said as free education is now a fundamental right, it is a serious shortcoming on the part of the state government in comprehensively analysing the issue and coming up with a solution.
“Even as children miss the classroom environment, new technologies like augmented platforms should be explored to make education more attractive to them. Still, classrooms are the primary discussion centres in our education system,” said the editorial.
Extreme views being aired by youths through online platforms like Clubhouse should be viewed seriously, the editorial said.