Televised classes for govt school students will begin from July 13: Sengottaiyan

Responding to a query after laying the foundation for construction of school buildings worth Rs 1.23 crore, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan on Wednesday announced that the televised classes for government school students will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on July 13. “Arrangements are under way for conducting these classes. Five channels have agreed to telecast the classroom sessions free of cost at scheduled timings. The quality of these classes will be on a par with any online class conducted in private schools. Just as our syllabus remains a model for the whole nation, these classes too will set new standards,” Sengottaiyan told reporters. Sources in the Education Department said that the televised classes will be telecast mainly through Kalvi Tholaikatchi (Education TV) channel that was launched by Palaniswami last year.

At present, the proposed 24X7 channel telecasts various programmes, including video lessons for NEET exams for medical aspirants, who cannot afford to get training through private institutes. “Virtual classes could not be conducted for students in government and government-aided schools since they do not have proper electronic infrastructure facilities including Android mobiles and desktop computers at home,” a senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next.

Following an appeal from the parents and teachers that government school students be compensated for the academic loss, authorities were preparing a detailed programme schedule to telecast classroom sessions based on textbooks for the new academic year. “To begin with, the classroom training programme will be telecast for students appearing for board exams,” the official said, adding, “Accordingly, it will begin for Class 12 students and gradually the programme will be extended to Class 10 and 11 students too.”

He said during the second phase, classroom programmes will also be designed for students from other classes. Stating that shooting has already started involving teachers and experts, the official said training programmes would be telecast in the morning, with a repeat in the evening.

Quoting the latest Broadcast India survey, the official said as per the statistics available, more than 95% of students even in rural areas have access to television sets, with the free educational channel. “We will request Direct To Home (DTH) service providers in the State to include educational channels to be aired for free,” he added.

The State government on Wednesday announced that Class 12 students, who could not attend the final board exam on March 24 due to the nationwide lockdown, can appear for the same on July 27. An order from the School Education Department stated that the students could download hall tickets from www.dge.tn.gov.in portal between July 13 and 17 and collect hall tickets from their respective schools. Transport facilities will be arranged for students to reach the exam hall and return home. Stating that exam centres will not be established near containment areas, the government said that those living in such areas will be seated in separate rooms. Students from both Science and Commerce streams will appear for Chemistry and Accountancy papers.