THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘First Bell’ online classes for school students started by the state government through KITE (Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education) VICTERS educational channel has completed over 1,000 sessions.
Launched on June 1, 2020, as an interim arrangement (and not as an alternative class ) in the wake of schools remaining closed due to the Covid pandemic, the unique initiative has ensured that not even a single student misses out on the academic sessioms during the testing times. Through First Bell, 604 classes were telecast on KITE-VICTERS channel in addition to 274 Kannada medium classes and 163 Tamil medium classes broadcast on local cable networks in the state.
Besides the viewership through the channel mode, the livestreaming platform of KITE VICTERS(www.victers.kite.kerala.gov.in) has evoked tremendous response with 442 terabyte of data downloaded in 141 countries.
The monthly views on the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/itsvicters) total 150million (15 cr). The average daily viewership of classes on YouTube alone is 54 lakh, which works out to a whopping five lakh hours daily. Despite limited advertisements, revenue from adverts has netted Rs15 lakh per month.
Due to the spike in Covid cases, several places, including the state capital, have been declared hotspots thereby severely restricting movement of people.
This has affected the preparations for the classes. To tackle this, KITE has made arrangements for preparation of material for the classes from different districts. “ To supplement the decentralised process, KITE has plans to provide necessary support through 2,000 plus schools where Little KITEs units have been set up,” said K Anvar Sadath, chief executive officer, KITE.
KITE-VICTERS’ livestreaming consumed 442 terabyte data from 141 countries
15-cr monthly views for YouTube channel
Rs15 lakh monthly YouTube ad revenue