The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought one of the biggest educational complications in India. The online classes and stress of exams during the pandemic has wrecked students across the nation. Lack of digital facilities is one of the reasons that students are suffering through multiple issues in this pandemic. Most of the educational institutions are providing lectures online and also accepting the way of online exams, and thus the internet becomes mandatory for students. However, according to the 2017-18 National Sample Survey Report on Education, only 24% of Indian households have an internet facility. While 66% of the population lives in rural areas, only a little 15% of rural households have access to internet services. For urban households, the proportion is 42%. It is similarly useful to know that a household with a device or internet facility does not necessarily indicate that the connection and devices are owned by the household.
According to a report by the Save The Children Fund, the Indian government spends only 3% of it's national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education. In the novel coronavirus period, the colleges are holding online classes, and to make it easy for students, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to give free data cards with a usage capacity of 2 GB per day between January to April. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu K Palaniswami announced, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the colleges are holding online classes. To enable the students to attend the online classes, the government has decided to give free data cards with the utilization capacity of 2 GB per day between January and April”.
The Chief Minister announced this news on 10 January in a statement. K Palaniswami said the data cards will be issued to about 9.69 lakh students studying in the government and government-assisted colleges by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT), a state government operation. These data cards will be given to them from January to April 2021 free of cost. Students in self-financed institutions will similarly be implemented through the ELCOT, the Chief Minister said. He further requested students to use free data for online learning. Tamil Nadu government is also issuing free laptops to the government and aided college students.
Giving free laptops would be preferable for online classes because only 11% of households possess any type of computer, which could include desktop computers, laptops, or tablets. In recent months, many students have attempted suicides due to no availability of digital resources and services. According to the World Health Organization's report, a student commits suicide every hour in India, and the pressure on students has increased in this pandemic period. Schemes such as giving free internet and laptops to students to learn from their home can be incredibly beneficial in such crucial issues.
Dr Anil Kumar, the Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Wing of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital believes that the efforts should be taken to make early psychological intervention among children to prevent suicidal thoughts. He says that, in most cases, the triggering reason behind this is primarily preventable. The Tamil Nadu state government has taken a significant step to help the younger generation of our nation. Even though many schemes like providing free internet services to students and multiple departments have launched several initiatives for the wellbeing of the students, more productive advancements are yet to happen at the school and college level.
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Reference:
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