Digital classrooms a far cry in government schools

Hyderabad: It has been almost a year since the Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari announced that all the government schools would get a digital makeover but a majority of the schools are yet to go the digital way. The state government planned to convert 6,000 traditional classrooms into digital ones.
In Hyderabad there are 689 government schools (primary and high school) out of which only 182 classrooms are digital.

Several parents were overjoyed after the announcement by the education minister but now are disappointed. Aparna Das, a retired Government school teacher said, “When I came to know that Telangana Government is going to develop digital classrooms I was glad and passed on this good news to more than 100 parents and suggested them to enroll children in government schools. People will again start coming back to state run schools if we keep pace with the times.”

There are several schools in the city that have a good strength such as Government Nehru Memorial High School, Malakpet but due to old teaching methods the school is not getting new enrollments. A senior teacher on condition of anonymity said, “We were informed that soon government schools will be going to well maintained with good infrastructure, books and especially classrooms will be digitalized but its daydream for Government school.”

Likewise Government High School Panjagutta, Udhyaoganagar Colony, Govt. High School, Sitafalmandi are a few examples of schools that are still having conventional classrooms. M Ravinder, president, Telangana Progressive Teachers Federation (TPTF) says, “All government schools students too have a right to modern education that includes computers. Private schools adopt modern methods, why should govt school students be left behind? Before the election notification, all government schools should have access to internet and projector.”

BY Mohammed Hussain