Gondia: Weak or no mobile internet connectivity has been the principal hurdle in online education throughout the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation is pathetic for students in Maharashtra’s Gondia district that connectivity issues forced several students to climb a “network tree” looking for uninterrupted signals to attend online classes.
Atul Gondhale walked through the fields for 18 km to reach a particular tree to find a network for his online polytechnic college session. The villagers named the tree as “network tree”.
“Every day one has to come near this tree to study. Often classes are missed due to heavy rain in monsoon. This is the only place where the network is good, other places have no network,” Atul Gondhale was quoted as saying by NDTV.
This tree, about 200 metres away from the lone mobile network tower in the area, is the only place in the village that has access to the internet.
Around 150 village students get their notebooks for online classes and reach near the tree with a mobile phones, pens, headphones.
“We can’t attend online classes from home, and we have to bring books here. Sometimes there is a class at 8 or 8:30 at night. Yet we have to come here to study. There is no network available on our mobile phones. If we have to reach the teacher or pass on information by calling, that is not possible,” another student Mayur Hattimare rued.
At the time when the government decided to close down schools in light of the COVID-19 crisis, online classes were seen as a move to continue education and save lives.
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