THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort to boost English language skills among the students under state syllabus this academic year, the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) will soon launch an exclusive web portal for them as part of the expansion of ‘Hello English’ and ‘Hello World’ programmes which are already included in the school curriculum. The portal which will be suited for web as well as in Android platform will be operational in a month.
At present, the portal is at the designing stage and the resource teams are working on it. ‘Hello English’ is a programme by SSK with an aim of improving the English language skills of students of government and aided schools. The initiative aims at enabling the teachers and students to handle English language with improved proficiency. The initiative was launched in 2016. Earlier this year, the SSK launched the extension of ‘Hello English’ titled as ‘Hello World’ which is being used on social media platforms for the students.
According to C Radhakrishnan, state programme manager (Innovations), SSK, the portal is a broader platform for students and it is aimed to bolster English language among the students to make them more interactive.“Hello English” is the first initiative launched by SSK. In phases, we have developed the extension of it. However, we have decided to design and develop the portal itself to ensure fluency and writing of English language among the students. It has a lot of features to attract the students.
The key features will be the portal will have the platform for reading, story writing, animated videos, songs and other recreational features so that the students would be interested and involved in it largely,” he said.In addition to boosting the English language, it will also reduce the mental stress and worries of children during the time of pandemic.
At present, the students are sent web pages in PDF format in which audio-video inputs and directions are embedded and linked to YouTube. Through this they can view stories, songs, presentations and follow up activities. Radhakrishnan said the portal would be a large version of this.However, he also raised apprehension that the portal could be not accessible to the students who are living in high-range areas due to poor data network connection.