BHUBANESWAR: Only a little over 22 per cent (pc) school students attended the virtual classes through YouTube, Doordarshan and radio platforms that were started by the State government to impart remote learning to students during Covid-19 pandemic.
In reply to a query on the digital education initiative by BJP Chief Whip Mohan Charan Majhi, the School and Mass Education (SME) Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said that 35 pc students from Class I to X attended YouTube live classes while only around 22.46 students attended classes broadcast by Doordarshan under the Shiksha Darpan initiative.
Attendance in Radio Pathshala classes - meant for students from classes one to eight of government-run institutes - was even more disappointing. Less than 10 pc students attended these audio classes that were started by Odisha State School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA).
The information furnished by the SME department further stated that out of 43.72 lakh students enrolled at the elementary level (from Class I to VIII), only 15.92 lakh (36.42 pc) watched live YouTube classes conducted by OSEPA in the 2020-21 academic year following closure of schools due to outbreak of Covid-19.
At secondary level, the percentage of students who attended live YouTube classes was only 33.52 pc.
Out of 10.60 lakh students enrolled in Class IX and X, a little over 3.5 lakh students attended the programme. Koraput remained at the bottom in terms of YouTube classes at secondary level as only 15.97 pc Class IX and X students attended the classes.
Similarly, Deogarh and Nabarangpur performed poorly in the YouTube learning programme at elementary level as the percentage of students who attended these classes in the two districts remained just around 20 pc. At 71.81 pc, Jagatsinghpur district recorded the highest percentage of students turning up for YouTube classes at elementary level. Khurda remained on top at secondary level with 57.73 pc students attending the classes.
The Shiksha Darpan programme on Doordarshan, on the other hand, was attended by only 20.10 pc students at elementary level and 24.8 pc at secondary level. Only 6.57 pc students took the Doordarshan classes at elementary level in Bargarh while 4.06 pc students attended them at secondary level in Rayagada district.
The Radio Pathshala programme was attended by just 9.47 pc students. Out of 43.72 lakh elementary students, a little over 4.14 lakh students attended these radio classes in the State in the previous academic session.