"I haven't learnt anything new in the last year. I listened to some English lessons as I liked stories and poems, other than that I haven't attended any of the classes properly. I have no clue what I learnt in Maths and Science. Some teachers insist on doing follow-up assignments after we listen to classes in Victers channel, but some don't. Even if we don't submit them, nobody asks," a class 9 student from Kozhikode district said. When asked what he did with his mobile phone, he added, "I played games, it was the first time I got a phone of my own.”
Around seven of the 10 government or aided-school students TNM spoke to about their online classes, had similar answers that they haven't paid much attention or learnt anything much. Some teachers care and some don't, they added.
For the government school going children from class 1 to 12, online classes are available in Victers channel on television, via www.victers.kite.kerala.gov.in portal, as also the Facebook page and YouTube channel of Victers. According to Samagra Shiksha Kerala which is the General Education Department of Kerala, among the 43 lakh students, around 2.6 lakh to 3 lakh don’t have access to TV or smartphones. The government has promised to solve the digital divide at the earliest this year. However, this also begs the question what the 40 lakh children who had access to TV / smartphones learnt last year.
Gayathri Kiran, a government school teacher from Thiruvananthapuram, said for students who were interested in studies, this was the best opportunity last year. “They got classes from the best teachers and utilised them well. But unfortunately, they were the minority.”
"The students who benefited, responded to class activities we gave them through WhatsApp groups and submitted their assignments properly. But many others didn’t even respond and we were helpless," she added.
Another teacher, Sabira A, from Kannur district said, "From a class of 50 students we would get proper responses from less than 10. Under some pressure, may be 10 more would respond.”
Gayathri said it is a fact that the majority of the students don’t benefit from online classes as they don't attend or pay attention. “For 10th and 12th standard, there were classes for a few weeks by the end of 2020-21 academic year. When they reached school, we realised how pathetic the situation of these students was.”
Many teachers do not bother to follow up on students who use phones for fun and never attend class. "There are students who didn’t attend a single class for certain subjects last year. There are many teachers in my school who don't even bother to keep track. The students who are average or below average in studies have fallen behind too far. They will face huge trouble once the regular classes start," a teacher from Thrissur said.
Parents also said that it is not easy to make these children sit for an online class. "The effort I took last year to make my 6th standard student attend class was too much. This year even though I cannot afford a private school, I shifted her to a CBSE school, so that the teachers make sure everyone attends online classes properly," Ajitha, a parent from Kozhikode said.
Teachers and parents complain that some of the schools haven't taken any efforts to keep children’s learning on track. "Many teachers have taken this as an opportunity not to work. The education department doesn’t have an efficient system to ensure that children are actually learning and teachers are working properly. Many teachers don't even follow up," a teacher from Thiruvananthapuram said.
Gayathri said that when their school started communicating individually with each student and started classes through the mobile apps, more number of students turned up. "We started class through video conferencing. Initially, students were hesitant to turn up, but later the number slowly increased. They did not take to video even after repeated requests, but we started new mechanisms to make this more comfortable for them through personal communication. Now a lot of kids attend video conferencing classes. But we could do this only with a lot of effort, and if each school takes this up seriously, things will change," she added.
The situation is slightly different in private schools. "We make sure that children turn on their video, and we also keep asking questions randomly to the children. We have strict orders from the school that no student should be left without attention," a private school teacher, Bindu R said.
Teachers and parents said that along with efforts to bridge the digital divide, education and local self-government departments should also bring a mechanism to ensure that children are learning properly without the misuse of gadgets.