First Bell: Virtual Classes for Kerala School Students to Begin from Monday

The Kerala government will begin virtual classes for school students from June 1, in an effort to ensure that they do not miss out on lessons due to COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Director of Public Instruction (DPI) K Jeevan Babu said the classes will be through the Kerala Infrastructure and

Technology for Education (KITE)-Victers channel under the name 'First Bell'.

"We very well know the situation of COVID-19, its spread and how dangerous it is. We need the nod of the centre

and the state government to open schools and start regular classes. So the department had decided to start online

classes. The classes will be through KITE Victers channel," Babu told media persons

KITE has even brought out the timetable for conducting the classes. The sessions will be held from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm from Monday to Friday for all classes from 1 to 12, except class 11, on the channel.

The time slots for different classes vary from half-an-hour to two hours, a press release issued by KITE said.

"We are not entering into a regular school period. We are unable to open the schools considering the health

situation across the world. Our students have even written their tenth and plus two exams under these trying circumstances," Babu said.

The new method of teaching and studying will be a challenge to the teachers as well as students, he added.

He said the department was worried about a section of students who lacked facilities for online classes and had

identified over two lakh students in that category.

"We have entrusted the class teachers and school headmasters or principals to make sure that students have

access to a television or a smart phone or a computer, and Internet for the classes. If not, they should find an

alternative for the students to attend the online classes either in real time or later," Babu said.

The department suggested alternatives including television or Internet facilities of neighbours, friends

living nearby, libraries or Akshaya centres.

The department also informed that all the classes will be in a downloadable format and can be compiled together and

shown to those who have missed the class later.

The sessions on Victers channel will be available simultaneously on the KITE Victers website, mobile app, and

social media pages.

The department said in the first week, the classes will be telecast on a trial basis and these will be repeated

in the second week.

The modules for different classes will be prepared by agencies under the General Education Department such as the

State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), KITE, Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK), and the State Institute of Educational Technology.

KITE informed that for the first week at least 1.2 lakh laptops, over 7,000 projectors and nearly 4,545 televisions have been readied for the students.