Otthupidichaal malayum porum. The tongue-twister needs to be repeated by those who lament the digital divide in the country and then do nothing about it.
The Malayalam saying means a mountain can be moved by joining hands. People, political parties of multiple hues and celebrities in Kerala have been practising what the proverb preaches, bringing online schooling to every deprived child in the state in just over a fortnight.
In end-May, a survey had shown that 2.5 lakh pupils of the Kerala school board lacked access to online classes. The tipping point that jolted the state’s conscience came on June 2 when a schoolgirl committed suicide because she lacked a working TV set at her home and could not attend the initial classes.
Soon afterwards, political parties, individuals, NRIs, businessmen and film stars succeeded in bridging the digital divide, donating smart TV sets, mobile phones and tablets.
Some were given directly to students but most were provided to the village libraries or anganwadi centres that have turned community classrooms, particularly in the more remote areas where homes have poor electricity or Internet connectivity.
Several cable operators have provided free connections for three months to students’ homes and community classrooms.
The effort was being tracked closely. “As on June 17, the number of students who had no access to a television or a smart phone had come down to 45,” K. Anvar Sadath, the CEO of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education, told The Telegraph on Wednesday morning.
“This number would have changed by now,” he added.
By afternoon, he was able to confirm: “Our figures show that all the 2.5 lakh students have been provided access to a TV, some of them through community learning centres.”
He added: “Our initial plan was to move all the smart classroom equipment like laptops (from the schools) to the community classrooms. But what we witnessed was a massive movement that provided TV sets and mobile gadgets too.”
On June 1, Kerala had begun a “virtual classroom project”, beaming content in four languages --- Malayalam, English, Kannada and Tamil --- through a dedicated TV channel and via Facebook and YouTube.
The state said it was setting up community classrooms, which would become operational by mid-June. The next day, the schoolgirl committed suicide.
The Kannur unit of the SFI, the CPM’s student arm, launched a drive to collect smart TV sets for poor students. The state unit of party youth wing DYFI too joined the campaign, drawing a massive response from film stars who donated a large number of smart TV sets.
“Now all the students in Kannur have access to TV, either directly or through community classrooms in the tribal areas where electricity connections are an issue,” district SFI secretary Shibin Kanay told this newspaper.
The only problem the SFI unit faced was a shortage of TV sets to buy. “When the stores in Kannur ran out, we had to go to Kozhikode (a neighbouring district) to buy some,” said Kanay.
The campaign cut across political affiliations. When Haris Muthoor, Malappuram district president of the Congress’s Kerala Students Union, circulated a message seeking a TV for a student, it was district SFI secretary K.A. Sakeer who donated a set to arch-political-foe KSU to be handed over to the student.
MLA and state Youth Congress vice-president K.S. Sabarinathan said the Congress had donated at least 4,000 TV sets.
“We bought 50 TV sets and got a lot more from my friends. We are waiting for fresh stocks to arrive so we can buy more with the money some friends have sent us,” he said.
“Our only regret is that the government left it to the people to provide TV sets. Anyway, all the political parties joined hands to bridge the digital divide in Kerala.”