Online classes out-of-the-way to ’23 percent’ JK students only

SRINAGAR: While the authorities had ordered recommence with virtual classes in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases, nearly 23 per cent of students studying in government and private schools of Jammu and Kashmir lack the basic facility of attending online classes.

According to the survey conducted by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), in Jammu and Kashmir 22.9 per cent of students studying in government and private schools lack access to smartphones.

The news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) has leant that the ASER in a survey conducted in 2020 has stated that 30.3 per cent of students of government schools and 13.1 per cent students of private schools had no availability of smartphones to attend the online classes.

Ironically, 10.5 per cent of students studying in government and private schools also had no access to the internet while at least 16.5 per cent of students were facing connectivity issues.

Besides the ASER has also mentioned that only 33 percent of schools were sending learning material to the students enrolled in the government and private schools of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The annual report for the estimate for Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir has been presented in a combined form for comparability with ASER estimates of previous years,” it reads. (KNO)