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The Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel on Saturday demanded {that a} task force be constituted to frame pointers for holding online lessons for college youngsters and the federal government helps college students from weaker sections of the society who don’t have entry to computer systems or smartphones.
Raising the demand in Rajya Sabha through the Zero Hour, Patel mentioned the Centre should improve spending to present digital help to poor college students.
“We demand from the government to constitute a task force to study how online classes are putting severe mental stress on students as well as their families. The central government should come out with national guidelines after consulting states as to what should be the rules under which online classes be held.
“Rather than changing education syllabus, the central government must increase spending to provide digital support for poor students,” he mentioned in his Zero Hour submission.
The Congress MP mentioned colleges have been closed for the final six months, and plenty of private and non-private colleges are conducting online lessons. At instances, that is being finished to justify the gathering of charges, he mentioned.
“This is creating an immense mental and financial burden on economically backward families. In poor homes, either they don’t have a laptop or computer and if they do have a smartphone, it is usually shared by many family members. Digital India should not become an instrument for ‘digital divide’ between the rich and poor,” he mentioned.
Patel mentioned in some states like Gujarat, Delhi, Kerala and Bengal, some college students have taken their lives due to the “stress and stigma” of online lessons.
He cited the findings of a survey whereby 24 per cent of homes have Internet entry and 9 per cent of scholars have entry to the Internet. He mentioned in accordance to a Gujarat schooling division survey, solely three per cent college students had a laptop computer or PC and fur per cent college students had entry to smartphones with limitless information plans.
Similarly, a Delhi authorities survey revealed that 80 per cent homes don’t have any laptop computer or computer systems, whereas a Telangana Teachers’ Federation survey says 70 per cent college students attending online lessons didn’t comply with something taught, Patel mentioned.
He alleged that entry to the Internet in states like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha is worse than Goa, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.
Patel mentioned that in 2014, the Narendra Modi authorities promised to present broadband connectivity 2.5 lakh village panchayats by 2017, however up to now solely 23,000 have been linked.
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