Four teachers take the initiative; Perambalur MLA and two donors from Qatar chip in.
A group of teachers at the government school in Elambalur in Perambalur district has made sure that 44 students, including two in Class XI, attend online classes by providing them with mobile phones and SIM cards.
The joint initiative of four teachers was the brainchild of K. Bairavi, a mathematics teacher, who found that students were not responding to messages sent by the school. “When the government asked us to begin online classes, none of the phone numbers furnished by students was active. Of the 16 students in English medium and 26 in Tamil medium in Class X, only two replied to our messages,” said Ms. Bairavi.
The teachers then went from door to door and learnt that the phone numbers pertained to devices of their parents. Ms. Bairavi consulted her family about the idea of buying phones…