MUMBAI: Everyone isn’t blessed with all the necessary needs, there are children in the villages who have no internet connectivity and has no idea about what is going on in the world, the state education department is now working on reaching them through television and radio.

The department has already received two two-hour slots per day from Doordarshan to telecast lectures to students. At the same time, visually challenged students will also be able to tune in with audio lectures which will be presented on the radio.

“We already have Diksha, a smartphone application, which helps students with lectures and understanding the syllabus. But to take advantage of this, you need internet connectivity” said, Dinkar Patil, director, state school education department

He added, “There are still few villages where internet connectivity is not that strong. To overcome that, we have now confirmed two-time slots on Doordarshan and content work has already started. The programs will be aired in a few days. Two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, slots will be divided for different classes.”

For visually challenged students, efforts are made to get similar content on radio so that students can listen to sessions and continue with their academics. Patil confirmed that for radio, audiobooks for classes VIII, IX and X are already ready and could be aired on the radio.

As of now, sessions from classes I to IX will be telecast on Doordarshan, which will be extended to classes X to XII soon.

Patil said, “For class XII, we have already uploaded PDF of the textbooks on the Bal Bharati website. Therefore, students of class XII can at least understand their syllabus. Apart from this, we have asked the class XII teachers to send lectures videos of first few chapters which we will provide for students through different mediums. Instead of sharing the same videos to the students, teachers have been asked to share with us so that we can also add some inputs from our side and keep it open for all.”

While the sessions on Doordarshan and radio will certainly help students in interior villages which faces network problem, experts said that this will also help to reduce screentime of students.

Vasant Kalpande, an education expert, said, “It is definitely a good move for those students living in areas like Velhe and Bhor, where network is a problem. But even city students can take advantage of this as there are many parents who keep their children away from smartphones.”

Namrata Jangle, whose son studies in class V in Sarhad School, said, “There are various applications which use smartphones to teach students. But if the same is taught on television for a limited time, then it will help to reduce the usage of phone.”