Lacking smartphones, Nuh goes for ‘mohalla paathshala’

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, July 29

Deprived of online classes for want of smartphones, hundreds of students of Nuh are finding respite in special ‘mohalla paathshalas’ started by Nuh administration.

Graduates of each mohalla or residential societies have been roped in to conduct small community classes for these children.

With small batches, the youth known as ‘shiksha mitras’ are conducting open-air classes and have got huge response within two days of the commencement of the programme.

“Imparting education during the Covid crisis is a big challenge. The problem is graver in Nuh where the majority of students don't have any infrastructure or smartphones to attend e-classes. The initiative 'mohalla paathshala’ will keep the children connected to lessons till regular schooling restarts," said Pankaj Yadav, ADC, Nuh.

Facing challenges like lack of smartphones and even cable or DTH-enabled TV sets, lack of network, erratic power supply and employment of students in farms, the local Education Department and private schools have so far failed to run online classes smoothly and had no choice but to wait for schools to reopen. In such a situation, this endeavour has come as a ray of hope.

In the first phase, 30 people enrolled as ‘shiksha mitra' and the first class started in Biwan village. Now, classes are being conducted in different villages. To ensure social distancing, each class has only 12 to 15 students who wear masks.

"We just have one smartphone in the house which I have to take with me. We have no DTH also. My son had attended no classes in the past four months. When I got to know about ‘mohalla paathshala’, I immediately enrolled him there. We see no hope of resumption of classes soon. So this is our only option," said Altaf, a resident of Bhakdoji village.