Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, KK Sharma today directed for doubling the efforts to provide facility of virtual classrooms and digital platforms to the students of Jammu and Kashmir, so that their studies do not suffer due to COVID-19 lockdown.The Advisor made the remarks while interacting with the Directors of Education of both the divisions through teleconferencing.The meeting was informed that both the Directorates are working hard to provide study material to students. Besides, the private schools throughout the UT have also given home assignments to the students studying in their institutions.It was also given out that the teachers are also using various digital platforms to reach out to the children through audio and video conferencing. Academic support is being given to the students by way of online classes through ZOOM App and Google Classes, wherever possible, the officials said.The Advisor was also informed that in present scenario, the Directorates of School Education have also initiated virtual schooling project wherein skilled and experienced teachers deliver curriculum-based lessons in the studios of J&K Information department and the lessons are telecast through DD Kashir Channel and local cable network.Presently, two classes of 30 minutes duration are aired daily at 04:00 PM and 06:00 PM and the students watch these lessons while sitting in their rooms.It was also given out that the Directorates of School Education are uploading subject specific lessons on Youtube Channels for the students.
DIKSHA, a digital Platform of MHRD is also available, which offers teachers, students and parents engaging material relevant to prescribed school Curriculum. E-patshala of NCERT is another platform of MHRD which is being accessed to teach students.The Advisor while appreciating the efforts of School Education Department asked both Directors to finalise the schedule of classes being telecast in DD Kashir Channel in advance and instructed them to publish the schedule of three days in advance in local newspapers and on websites of the department.The Advisor appealed parents and students to utilise various services and educational material available on different platforms, so that students remains updated and are benefited from the technological interventions in their studies.Later, the Advisor also interacted with Secretary Higher Education and VCs of Jammu University and Kashmir University regarding various online initiatives.The Advisor highlighted the latest communication of UGC addressed to all VCs and Principals of Colleges with regard to various ICT initiatives of MHRD, UGC and IUCs like Swayam On-line Courses, e-PG Pathshala, Swayamprabha, National Digital Library etc. He said that these initiatives need to be utilised and supplemented for maximum usage within the Universities and its affiliated Colleges.