School Edu dept to launch toll free number for students

Kolkata: The School Education department will soon launch a toll free number through which teachers will directly cater to the queries of students.

The initiative of teaching through phone call will start from August 4.

The toll free number will be circulated among the

students through advertisements in media. Students' questions in all subjects that are taught in the school level will be answered through telecalling.

"This is perhaps for the first time when any education department in the country is launching such a platform to reach out to students of those remote areas where internet connectivity is a challenge. The toll free number will be functional from 11 am to 1 pm and also from 2 pm to 4 pm. We hope this service

will be very fruitful for students who are unable to physically

meet their teachers with school closed because of the COVID pandemic situation, " said a senior official of School Education department.

The School Education department in coordination with the Syllabus Restructure Committee has already imparted virtual training to four to six teachers in every district.

The training has been in six languages - Bengali, Hindi, Nepali,

Santhali, Urdu and English as per requirement.

"These four to six teachers will act as District Resource Persons' (DRP) in their respective districts and will train other teachers in the districts. The training will gradually go

right upto the circle level

and the department will

monitor the programme," said Aveek Majumder, Chairman

of Syllabus Restructure Committee.

The department has also identified a handful of DRPs who failed to join the training for some reasons. A mop up

virtual session will be held for them on August 7.

"We have imparted lessons on how to combine online and offline mode of teaching to reach out even to those students with poor internet connectivity, " said

Majumder.

"We have been using this platform and sending activity tasks through them to their respective wards who do not have internet access at home. The students' are performing the activity task and sending it the next month through their guardians when they are coming for mid day meal," said a senior department official.