Odisha’s child rights body has urged the State government to resume physical teaching for students of classes 6 to 8. This request comes two days after the tragedy that killed a class 7 student who had climbed up a boulder seeking stable internet to attend an online class.
The incident of the 13-year old Andrea Jagaranga of Kandhapendaraguda village in Rayagada district highlighted the digital divide in Odisha and the problems faced by students living in remote places.
The letter sent by the Chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR), Sandhyabati Pradhan, welcomed the school and mass education department’s recent move to resume in-person teaching for students of classes 10 and 12.
“The department may issue necessary instruction to allocate one and half hour each day for two days in a week to each class and the school management committees must be consulted before reopening of schools”, wrote Pradhan in her letter.
Earlier this month, the Union education ministry said during the parliament that nearly 30 million children in India did not have a digital device to access education online. In Odisha, over 1.5 million children do not have access to a computer, tablet, or smartphone.