The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur, has appealed to its alumni for aid as “it is very important to bridge the digital divide that is threatening the future of many students in the present pandemic situation due to lack of resources and facilities at the institutional level”.

Online education has posed a great challenge to the current batch of students, many of whom come from poor economic backgrounds, and cannot afford to buy laptops/smartphones or access to high-speed Internet connection.

NIT Durgapur started online classes from September 7. While live classes are being held on platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, the institute is also uploading recorded lectures on Facebook and YouTube.

But a large section of students do not have laptops, smartphones or broadband connectivity, and this is coming in the way of the online classes, said an official of the institute.

“This is an unprecedented situation. We are aware of the kind of constraints our students are encountering amid the pandemic. So we have decided to appeal to our alumni for help,” Anupam Basu, the director of the institute, told Metro on December 30.

Tapping the alumni resource in the hope that their donation could help students in distress amid the pandemic is not unique to NIT Durgapur.

The director of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, had appealed to the institution’s former students on the occasion of a virtual global alumni meet on Sunday for a “generous contribution” to help students who are in no position to pay tuition fees because of the Covid pandemic.

The digital divide has been a point of concern at the NIT Durgapur for a while and a survey among students in April had pointed out that 45-50 per cent of its BTech students won’t be able to attend online classes because they either don’t have a computer or live in places with poor Internet connectivity.

Although the institute is trying its best to provide all kinds of assistance to these students to get the required IT hardware and broadband/Internet connectivity, but it may not be possible to reach out to all, an official of the institute said.

Considering this inadequacy the institution has decided to engage the alumni to help the students, he said.

The notice urges the alumni to contribute by clicking on the link — NITDAlumni4edu — uploaded on the institute’s website.

“We request our generous alumni to come forward and donate to a cause that will ensure that every student continues to learn, and his/her economic condition doesn’t become a barrier in fulfilling his/her dreams” says the notice.

The institute has also requested its alumni members who are in the telecom service sectors to help out students who are struggling with poor connectivity at home.

This aid will matter a lot, it will help students join the online classes, said an official.

“It is also high time that we set up a Centre for Digital Learning in order to facilitate the new normal online/ digital mode of education more effectively,” says the notice.