Ganjam trainee teachers help students bridge digital divide

BERHAMPUR: Trainee teachers in Ganjam district are helping primary students in different villages facing difficulties in learning through the digital mode. As many as 174 students of Government Elementary Teacher Education Institute (ETEI), Bhanjanagar, are teaching around 1,730 students of Class II to VIII in 135 villages in 15 districts, said principal of the institute Bamadeb Tripathy.Each student is teaching 10 students on an average.
The classes by trainee teachers started from July 15 after the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) rolled out the initiative in collaboration with the Unicef, when the schools remained shut due to the pandemic. It will continue till October 10.
The response from students and parents are very good as we got feedback from students and villagers, said Tripathy. Besides, we interact with our students from time to time, which gives us a clear picture of the classes taken by them, he said.
The trainee teachers of first and second years are teaching students for two hours every day during the day. The time and venue of the classes was decided by them in consultation with villagers.
They also teach them extra-curricular activities like sports, games, drawing and painting and giving them homework. Each of the trainee teachers will get one-time cash of Rs 700 to buy masks, sanitisers, drawing sheets and paintings. They will also get a certificate from SCERT and Unicef after completion of the initiative, which is an alternative internship of the aspiring teachers.
“As part of their internship programme, the trainees are supposed to visit the nearby schools and teach primary students. With schools being shut, their internship will be completed through this alternative system,” he stated. The students facing difficulties due to the internet problem will benefit by the initiative said, Shyam Sundar Kharanga, a retired teacher.