KARUR: Coming to the rescue of students bogged down by connectivity and even smartphone availability issues is a radio jockey (RJ)-turned-government school teacher in the district who has taken the podcast route to impart lessons.
Making use of his prior work experience, P Karthikeyan, a Commerce teacher at the Esanatham Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS), has created podcasts for students of Classes 10 and 12. Launched by actor-director Samuthirakani on August 15, they are now made use of by over 9,000 students from across the State for learning their subjects.
The native of Chinnadharapuram, who has been credited with implementation of other unique teaching methods since his joining the school in 2016, said, “Not all students are able to attend online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic situation owing to several reasons. Out of an average of 50 students, only 10 were able to attend them. In view of this, we decided to come up with a different plan for teaching students without any hindrance. We created a Blogspot through one of the free servers that are available online and created a podcast and began uploading pre-recorded audio lessons for students of Classes 10 and 12."
Mentioning the motive to be enabling students who don't have access to high-speed internet or possess smartphones to learn their subjects, Karthikeyan further said, “The podcast is being updated daily and the links to it are sent to students by teachers through SMS. Even one who possesses a basic phone with low speed 2G internet can hear our podcast and learn anytime they want.”
“We initially created this podcast for the 257 Class 10 & 12 students studying in our school, but as the podcast became a huge hit, over 9,000 students from across the State have been learning lessons through our podcast which is a first of its kind in Tamil Nadu," the 'Dream Teacher Awardee' added. The reach has been made possible, thanks to teachers of the school sharing the links with schools in other districts.
Launching at a time when the State government has allowed schools to reopen from September 1 for Classes 9 to 12, Karthikeyan points to the hesitation parents might have in sending their children to school over Covid-19 fear. The podcast will hence continue to help students take their lessons, he added.
The former All India Radio – Kodaikanal RJ and former newsreader at Doordarshan also revealed of plans to launch a special podcast on September 5 (Teacher’s Day) for visually challenged students as well as a special website for students of all classes.