Covid effect: Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab app catches fancy of students

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 24

The Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab app has become a ‘new normal’ for city students. The app is a brain child of a mathematics teacher of Senior Secondary School, Nurpur, Deepak Kumar, who says the app has caught the fancy of students.

Deepak, who is also the block mentor, said the app received appreciation from the Education Department and would soon be launched at the state level too. “Until now, the app was concentrated within the district, but now, it will be launched in every district,” he said.

At present, the app is for students from Classes VI to XII but soon it would be introduced for pupils of primary to senior secondary classes. The material for six subjects — science, English, SST, Hindi, Punjabi, mathematics — is available in the app.

When asked how he came up with the idea, the math master said earlier, the assignments were sent to the students via WhatsApp, but there was no continuity and they had to face problems owing to this. “This came as a trigger and I thought that there was a need for an app where the students can learn in a streamlined manner,” he said.

Jaswinder Singh, District Mentor of Mathematics, said at first, it was a website, then it was developed into an app. “We have got a great response from other districts, too. Initially, it was difficult for us to help students with their studies, but with the app, everything has become systematic,” Singh said.

Dharampal, who is posted at Government High School, Patara, is already running his YouTube channel with the name ‘Mathematics Lovers’. Dharampal is also the state resource person for mathematics.

He uploads at least three lectures a week for Classes VI to X. “In the current scenario, it is important to reach out to students through YouTube. I have been getting a great response from students.

SPEAKING OUT

We had started with mathematics first. After sending the links, we started getting requests from other subject teachers, too. This is how the app gained popularity. —Jaswinder Singh, district mentor mathematics

The app is user-friendly as there is no username or password required. The idea was to make sure that the students get education without any hindrance amid the pandemic. —Deepak Kumar, block mentor mathematics

We are asking students to download the app. Starting from ‘word of the day’ to ‘thought of the day’ activities, everything is available here in the app and would help pupils in the long run. —Dharampal, State resource person for mathematics

We prepare lectures and then upload it on the app. It is helping the students a lot. Be it any lecture or topic, we prepare, make videos and then upload those. We also take feedback from the students. —Munish Kumar Sharma, science master