As many as 42,159 students from Classes IX to XII have registered for free tutorials by students of Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur. The tutorials will be held on digital platforms and will start on Tuesday.

The registration was open from May 20 to May 24.

A notice signed by Swami Shastrajnananda, the principal of the college, says because of a high number of registrations “we won’t be able to individually email and update you on class-schedule but we shall share all the important details regarding the tutorials, including timetable, syllabus, notifications etc. on this webpage: rkmrc-online tutorials.blogspot.com”.

For each class a designated YouTube channel has been created, details of which will be available on the webpage and the college’s Facebook page.

According to a routine drawn up by the college, the tutorials will be held five days a week.

Seventy students of the college, who underwent training under the watch of teachers of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur, will take classes. The classes will be held from 8am to 10am and again from 7pm to 9pm.

Twenty classes will be held each week in Bengali, English, geography, history, physical science, life science and mathematics.

Only the routine for June has been uploaded, said a monk.

“We will decide on extending the classes based on the response to the tutorials. The college will keep an eye on the decision of the state administration regarding closure of institutions before taking a call,” he said

The classes were supposed to begin on May 26. But they were deferred to June 1 because ofCyclone Yaas that hit Bengal and Odisha on May 26.

Before the commencement of the classes, an online inauguration programme was held on Monday morning on the YouTube channel of the college.

Swami Sarvalokananda, the secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, said the overwhelming number of registrations underscored the need for the tutorials.

“Registration from over 42,000 students makes it clear that the senior school students are eagerly looking forward to the free tutorials. The pandemic has come in the way of continuing their studies. We have trained our college students so that the queries of the senior school students can be addressed with utmost patience,” said Swami Sarvalokananda.

In Bengal, schools affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education had resumed classes for students of Classes IX to XII from February 12 after a closure spanning 11 months as a precautionary measure against Covid. But the classes were suspended on April 21 because of the surge in the number of infections.

Students of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, are offering free tutorials to underprivileged students of Classes III to VIII.