SAMBALPUR: When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, throwing schools into a complete shut down, a group of students of VSSUT came together to literally ‘unlock education’ and ensure the children are not deprived of the guidance as done in normal classroom education. They started providing online tutorials free to the local school children first but the initiative has now spread across the state bringing students of over 250 schools in its fold.
‘Unlock Education’ was started as a Facebook page in the first week of July by Hrudanand Prusty of VSSUT along with two of his batchmates Ankita Meher and Ayushi Swain. Subsequently, a core team of 12 students of VSSUT was formed which promoted the initiative through social media platforms. A few mobile numbers were shared for students to seek assistance and clear their doubts on any subject.
Nearly a month after its launch, students from different colleges extended their support to ‘Unlock Education’. Currently, they are a team of 55 members comprising students from OUAT and BJB Junior College in Bhubaneswar, Bargarh Women’s College, Madras Medical College, CET College, NIFT and a few other institutes.
The initiative is meant for students from Class VIII to X. When a student reaches the platform, he is added to a WhatsApp group on the basis of his board of education. Students then share their doubts in the group which is explained by team members either over audio or video call. The team also conducts group classes over video call on different subjects. The members are active from 6 am to 1 am everyday and provide useful short notes and pdf documents on different topics as well as related YouTube links.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, the team launched a 24x7 dedicated helpline. Founder of the initiative Prusty said, “We launched the helpline to reach out a larger group of students across the county, who are in need of guidance amid this pandemic. Students from any corner of the country can reach us at 720-5727-644 by just giving a missed call, and our team will soon get back to them with the necessary help.”
Prusty, who has now bagged a job, said he is trying his best to devote adequate time to his brainchild. Similarly, many team members are also juggling between their profession and responsibilities in ‘Unlock Education’. Recently, the team has also launched their own YouTube channel where they are uploading video lectures on different subjects in the school syllabus.
“We want people to spread the word about our initiative so that more school students can take benefit of the free online tutorials,” Prusty added,A month back, the team also started ‘Unlock Skill’ initiative under which students of all age groups are imparted writing and oratory skills. Besides, aptitude, reasoning, art and craft classes are conducted online for one hour daily. Over 50 students are enrolled under this initiative.