Twenty nine per cent of school students in Tripura don’t have access to any sort of smart phone, cable TV network or such connectivity through which they could be covered under online classes during Covid-19, revealed recent survey.
Earlier in June this year, the state government started experimental schooling like online classes, recorded videos etc streamed via local cable television channels, social media under ‘Ektu Khelo Ektu Padho’ project but the students of interior places of the state faced problems due to lack of access to such devices.
Speaking to reporters, education minister Ratan Lal Nath said that the survey, conducted among 3,22,297 students from all eight districts of Tripura during Ektu Khelo Ektu Padho classes, revealed 94,013 students didn’t have access to any sort of phone.
The survey responses came from students enrolled in 3,974 schools.
Among them, 1,11,618 students said they have access to smartphones, 1,16,666 students have access to basic phones and 94,013 don’t have any sort of phone.
North Tripura district has 22,605 students without any phone access – the highest in the state, followed by Sipahijala with 18,833 students, Dhalai with 13,999 students and West Tripura with 13,909 students deprived of phone connectivity. Khowai district, on the other hand, was found to have the highest phone penetration; only 2,173 students in the district said they didn’t have any phone.
Out of 3.2 lakh students, 1, 42,238 said they didn’t have access to any kind of television, rendering them unable to take the televised recorded lectures or live classes conducted by the education department.Nenow
