Udaipur : At a time when social media is on the radar for permeating negativity, triggering conflicts and social withdrawal, a squad of students, that too in rural tribal areas are benefiting of it immensely. The class tenth students at Kankarwa government senior secondary school in Kumbalgarh block of Rajsamand are using the smart phones and social media for taking lessons in Mathematics after school hour daily. Students residing in tribal remote belts like Chambua, Jhelapatta, Kodar, Dovas and Taravala look forward to the late evening test session every day where their mathematics teacher comes up with a question paper and the students are required to solve it within stipulated time.
The idea was mooted by the school head master Sanjay Lunawat while a senior teacher in Mathematics Ramesh Chowdhary is the co-ordinator of the group who conducts the online tests daily. ” Only few of the students have a mobile phone of their own, most of the students use the phones of their parents. It was not easy to convince the parents to allow their children to use the phone as they were reluctant and unsure whether this innovation would really help” Lunawat told Udaipur Kiran.
Parents specially of girls were sceptical and feared their kids would get addicted to mobiles if they were given relaxation when it is the board examination just few months away. But the teachers managed to convince them and formed a group. An announcement for chapters is made prior to the day of the test and next day between 8 to 9 pm the question paper is shared. The students solve the paper and post their answer sheets on the group.
Next day the teacher announces the result and prizes are given to three students scoring highest marks. ” The group was started as an innovation as well as an alternative to the traditional testing method. Parents are now appreciating the efforts as they too keep an eye on the performance of their wards and interact with the teachers regularly. We have been even appreciated by the SDM Parsaram Taunk and officers from the education department.” Lunawat informs.