Kerala’s e-classrooms reaching out to remote tribal hamlets

Students of Edamalakkudy, one of the most remote tribal villages in Kerala, which is over 15 kilometres into the forest in Idukki district, are among the over 41 lakh students of Kerala who are attending online classes from their houses or community learning facilities.

After the two-week long trial run of the Kerala government’s ambitious online learning project from Class 1 to 12, titled First Bell, regular classes of the fresh academic year are commencing from this Monday.

With the suicide of a tenth-standard student, Devika, hailing from a weak dalit family in Malappuram on the opening day of the online classes on June 1 allegedly owing to unavailability of online study facility like smart phone or television connection, the fact that 2.26 lakh students even don’t have any means for accessing online classes got highlighted.