Interacting with Delhi government schools’ teachers and parents , Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday sought their feedback on the ongoing technology driven academic activities for the wards.

Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio of education minister also sought suggestions to improve online education during his visit to two government schools in two districts.

He also suggested that parent-teacher meetings too should be organized at regular intervals using online method.

Describing the experience of online education as very useful, most parents said that teachers guided their children in a very positive way. The interaction was held at SKV Prashant Vihar and GBSSS/GGSSS Pitampura .

Sisodia said, “When the lockdown happened, we started online classes. At that time, everyone thought that online education is only for private school students and that parents of government school students do not have the means and teachers are also not trained. But the officials of our Education Department along with the teachers adopted innovative techniques to reach out and engage with all children irrespective of the fact whether their parents has smart phone or not.  Parents and students also gave us a lot of support”.

He said, “This is the first time in the country that online education has been done in government schools at such a scale.”  He described Delhi’s technology enabled teaching learning model as “Semi-online”.  Children upto classes 10 are given worksheets every week through whatsapp and those children whose parents do not have smart phone are invited to the school to collect the print out of the weekly worksheets. Besides that, nearly all children of class 12 are attending live online classes conducted by Delhi Government teachers in 12 subjects. All the students are also guided through phone call and SMS by their teachers.

 Sisodia said, “It was very easy for us to say that only those who have the means can have access to online education. But we have to take everyone along with us. There was a time when access to education was based on religion and caste and later on financial status. It created divide in the society. We bridged that by rebuilding our government schools with world class facilities. But now, new divide should not be created among those who have access to digital devise and those who do not have. That is why we adopted Semi-online approach.”

 Sisodia said, “Soon there will be a vaccine to cure Corona, but there is no vaccine for the loss of education. Therefore, we have to reduce our other expenses so that we continue with our children’s education. If there is a loss in education, it will not only be the loss of that child or family, but it will be a loss for the entire country. Our prudence is to recognize that no matter how difficult it may get, it should not affect our child’s education.”

Thanking all teachers and parents, Sisodia said, “You have transformed your home as a school, this is a big deal.”

He said, “We understand that online classes are not a substitute of classroom. It is like seeing the Kashmir valley in a film instead of going there and seeing it with one’s own eyes. But it is important to keep the learning going even if it is in the form of an online class. In the current crisis, all parents and teachers will have to do their best to reduce the loss of education."

Sharing his experience, he added that
he saw in Finland that teachers give assignments on Facebook as children are fond of Facebook. "Teachers understand that instead of looking at other things on Facebook if the students will do their homework, it will serve their purpose," he added.  We did not think that we too would provide education through social media. But today, under compulsion, we launched this experiment which has reduced the educational loss significantly.

During the interaction, teachers of SKV Prashant Vihar said that 96 percent of the students of that school are enrolled in the online classes. Attempts are being made to contact the remaining children. During this time, teachers and parents shared their experiences in detail. A parent said that the teachers of the school have worked extremely hard on children.

Teachers and parents also described Happiness Classes as a fulfilling experience in these difficult times. Mr. Sisodia, while advising the children to have meditation at home, said that this will reduce restlessness among children and they will be able to concentrate more. Mr. Sisodia said, “there are about 15 lakh children in Delhi government schools and about 42 lakh children in all schools of Delhi. The Delhi government is making every effort to ensure that every student gets the best facilities.”

The rules of social distancing were fully taken care of during the interaction. The process of reviewing online education in different schools of every district will continue.

Many parents also give their response to the education minister.”My child was earlier enrolled in a private school. We brought him to the government school in the science stream. Every teacher here guides him really well. When the head of the family is good, then everything turns out to be good,” a parent during the meeting said.

“I have three children and all three like online classes very much. I have only one mobile and all three have to study at the same time,” another parent said while sharing challenging being faced in online classes.