Donate Laptop And Smart Phones To Help Poor Students’ Study Through Online Classes, Urges Pune Zilla Parishad

The Pune Zilla Parishad has urged people to donate working second-hand smartphones and laptops to enable poor students to attend online classes.

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New Delhi: Since the nationwide lockdown was imposed schools and other education institutes had to depend on online classes to continue to the learning process for students. Now the Pune Zilla Parishad has started an initiative urging people to donate used Android Mobile Phone, Smart TV, Old Tablet, Laptop, or Computer which is in working condition to help poor students who may face difficulty in accessing online classes. According to a notification by the Pune Zilla Parishad CEO  Ayush Prasad,  the items be donated to ‘schools so that it can be given to poor children and they can be brought to the mainstream by providing online education.’ The notification also said that ‘In the present situation, it's not possible to start schools due to the COVID19 outbreak. However, it's important to continue education for students. Providing them online education is better option&in order to do that related materials made available with teachers’ Maharashtra is one worst affected states due to coronavirus in India. The state has so far recorded a total of 1,92,990 cases of Covid 19. Although education institutions have started online classes, there are several challenges for many students especially those from poorer sections of the society. Lack of equipment and Internet services can hamper access to online classes. Last month, a student from class 9 in Kerala committed suicide after she was unable to attend online classes due to a lack of a smartphone or laptop. The 14-year-old had requested her parents to repair the television so that she could attend the classes but due to financial difficulties the family had put the plans on hold. The state had started Neighbourhood Study Centres which come equipped television to help students who have no access to digital tools to attend classes.