A district in Tamil Nadu, which, till the other day, had areas that were disconnected from the mainstream, is now among the fast developing districts of Tamil Nadu. Erode district administration, under the leadership of DM H Krishnanunni, is taking up initiative after initiative in the remote hilly areas, that are helping the people livng there to connect to the mainland with ease.
From providing livelihood to the tribal population to taking up infrastructural work and bringing internet services, the Collector has tried every possible way to bring the remote areas to the mainstream. Focusing on the educational sector this time, Mr. H Krisnanunni has taken up the work of installing smart classes in 100 remote schools.
PROVIDING QUALITY EDUCATION
While speaking to Indian Masterminds, DC Erode H Krishnanunni said, “The main purpose of installing smart classes in Erode is to improve the quality of education as accessibility has been one of the main problems in the hilly remote regions of the district. Moreover, the smart classes concept, which is not new to urban areas, is a bit more interactive than the normal teaching sessions. Hence, it attracts students more towards education and learning new stuff.”
The Covid 19 pandemic shook the whole country and the education sector was the worst hit after health. Mr. Krishnanunni said, “As schools were not fully operational during the unprecedented times and because of the remoteness and social economic backwardness, there was a reluctance in the students in going back to school after almost a two-year gap.”
Therefore, this was another main issue which the district administration had to tackle on an urgent basis.
ENROLLING SCHOOL DROPOUTS
The officer further said that although the education department has quality content to teach the children, to make lessons even more interactive and interesting, installing smart classes was the way forward. As the government is also coming up with more online content to improve the learning outcome of the students, hence, this initiative will help the students in availing those services very easily.
With a cost of around two lakh per unit, 100 smart classes were installed in 100 hilly schools of the district. Olirum Erode Foundation and Federal Bank were the two agencies that supported this intervention of the administration and contributed through their CSR funds. A total of two crores were spent on this project, out of which, 40 lakhs were sought through CSR funds and the rest was borne with government funds.
As the digital tool has already been installed in these 100 schools, a good response has been seen in the children, especially the ones who had dropped out during the Covid pandemic. Moreover, the teachers now have an opportunity to engage more interestingly through the online digital platform and teach in new and innovative ways. With the government updating the online content from time to time, it will also add up to the learning outcome of the students.
