Helpline for Classes IX-XII - A dedicated toll free number, to be launched soon, will connect students to their teachers -queries to be replied in six languages — Bengali, Hindi, English, Nepali, Urdu and Santhali.

Mita Mukherjee   |   TT  |  Salt Lake   |   26.07.20   :  Students of Classes IX to XII of state-aided schools will be able to clear their doubts while studying at home by phoning a teacher.

A dedicated toll free number will connect them to a teacher who will answer their queries. In case they are unsatisfied with the answer, they can seek the help of another teacher. The number and it launch date will be announced shortly, a school education department official said.

The department has created a pool of teachers from state-aided Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools to help students, the official said. The selected teachers will be trained to help students on the phone, the official said. “We are in the process of training the teachers. We have already trained 300 key resource people from among the selected teachers. These resource people are now training other teachers.”

Students can get their queries replied in six languages — Bengali, Hindi, English, Nepali, Urdu and Santhali. The facility will be available from Monday to Sunday twice; 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, a school headmaster said.

One of the main objectives behind the move is to strengthen the learning process, the school education department official said.

State-aided schools are already teaching students online. But the government has been receiving complaints from students and guardians, especially from rural areas, about their inability to access online classes regularly because of Net connectivity problems. “Schools are closed. Teachers are not able to contact students. This system of offering help on the phone will make it easier for teachers to reach out to students. It will help students understand their lessons better,” the official said.

The department has selected the teachers directly and the school heads were not involved in the process, the official said.

The state government recently created a data bank with details of all teachers working in state-aided school.

The heads of at least five schools in Calcutta said teachers had been selected independently by the school education department and that they had no information regarding their selection.

The facility will be gradually extended to students of Classes VI to VIII, the school education department official said.

The head of a school said 10 teachers from his institution had been selected. “All of them are efficient,” he said.

The head of another school said three teachers had been taken from his school and they were “good”.