Teacher wheels TV set to students’ homes near Sirkazhi : Rashtra News
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A middle school teacher here has bought a flat-screen television set and fastened it to a wheelchair to take it around the streets to give children access to Kalvi TV, the government’s educational channel.
The teacher found that at least 50% of the students of the Panchayat Union Middle School, Nimmelineppathur in Sirkazhi, did not have access to any educational material and decided to take matters into his own hands.
A majority of the residents of Nimmelineppathur are migrant labourers who travel to other States for work. The remaining are farmworkers. Their children are left with their relatives when the parents go to work. In many houses, there is no television set, and the families that have one do not have the money to recharge or pay electricity bills.
“Now that the COVID-19 lockdown has been lifted, the parents have all gone to work, leaving these children with no way to learn,” said S. Srinivasan, the teacher.
He decided to purchase a television set and take it around to the students so that they can learn from their homes, or at a nearby place.
The work began two months ago. After purchasing the parts separately and assembling them on his own, Mr. Srinivasan began wheeling it around Nimmelineppathur. The contraption consists of a television, a portable modem for internet connection and a USB drive with educational material stored in it.
Mr. Srinivasan goes to one street a day and spends a few hours allowing the children to watch the videos played on Kalvi TV. He borrows electricity from the house near where he teaches — usually under a tree or a spot with shade where at least 30 students gather. “Sometimes there is no internet so the channel cannot be accessed. To avoid such a situation, I have downloaded the video classes, rhymes and other material into a pen drive,” he said. After the videos are played, he explains the material that was taught and provides clarifications. The cost of the rig is ₹28,000, which Mr. Srinivasan spent from his salary.
He now plans to buy a battery to ensure that the TV set can be played without electricity and also digital tablets which he can use for teaching.
( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a www.thehindu.com feed.)