The Board of Secondary Education Assam (Seba) has taken an initiative to teach subjects in the Bodo language online, along with Assamese and English, catering to the need of 4.32 lakh registered class X students under the board.

The board has roped in digital learning platform SIQES Eduaid for teaching a Class X course and is aiming to cover the syllabus of science, mathematics and English for March and April. Students will able to access the lessons live on Youtube from Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 6pm.

Seba chairman R.C. Jain told The Telegraph that the initiative to teach lessons online in Bodo language is first of its kind initiative in the state and it will be beneficial to 22,000 registered Bodo students under the board.

However, Jain said students are not aware of streaming the videos in Bodo language.

The videos in Bodo are getting up to 400 views per day.

“We have contacted the All Assam Bodo Students’ Union (Absu) to spread the information among the community,” he said.

“We started the programme on March 23 and we are getting almost 10,000 hits per day. The total views of the videos have crossed 7 lakh. Students and parents are interacting in the comments section with the teachers. Parents are showing interest in the initiative as we also follow the academic calendar,” he added.

Six teachers for three subjects are assigned for the work.

Eduaid educator Dhrubatara Bhattacharya said the lessons are beneficial for the students as Seba’s academic calendar commenced from January and the initiative would bridge the gap.

He said feedback from Dhubri, Barpeta, among others, and from students of city-based schools are pouring in.

“In these 10 days we have received 7,000 subscribers for our channel on Youtube. Almost all digital learning platforms have been opting to teach in English. We thought of trying in vernacular languages as medium of instructions. We are also trying in Bengali language,” Bhattacharya said.

Concept Learner, an online coaching platform, has been offering free coaching for class X students till April 15.

The platform has been imparting coaching for science, mathematics and English in Assamese and English. Founder Abhinav Bordoloi said the Android mobile application has been downloaded over 4,000 times by users.

“There is a panel on the app where students can ask questions directly in case of confusion. Due to the lockdown, the 2021 HSLC aspirants are suffering a huge setback. I hope the coaching classes are helpful for them,” Bordoloi said.