Team Herald
PERNEM: The digital divide appears to have hit the students from Pernem taluka as the poor connectivity issue has compelled them to travel to far-off places to catch up network in attending online classes.
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The weak network in several parts of Pernem, especially Mopa, Ugvem, Tamboxem, Chandel, Ozari, Casarwane, Hankhane, parts of Warkhand, Tuem, Parsem, Mandrem, Morjim, Keri and others has inconvenienced the students as they are forced to move out of their houses and travel almost one-two kilometres in search of better connectivity.
Students from Mopa’s Karmali ward have to even walk through the jungle to a hilly area to stay connected during online classes.
Poor connectivity issue has severely affected the students, the parents claimed.
“The students face difficulties in understanding what is being taught due to audio/visual error. We are also concerned about the safety of our children as they (students) have to often pass through jungles,” said a student’s mother.
Deep Raul, a high school student from Karmali Mopa, said, “We have to walk almost one-and-a-half kilometres to the hilly area to catch the network. In our locality there is no proper network from any of the service providers due to which we are compelled to travel to far off places”.
As a stopgap arrangement the parents from
Karmali ward have constructed a shed in the forest for their children to sit and attend the classes during the rains.
“We need to often change the spot for proper connectivity. Sometimes we even use Wi-Fi available at our classmate’s house. However, the connectivity is lost when the number of users increases. Sometimes when I seek a connection via hotspot from friends we face problems as the audio gets affected which makes it difficult to understand. However, our teachers give us the notes if we fail to attend the online class,” said Prathamesh Harmalkar, a student.
“My schoolmates and I are compelled to choose a spot on the highway for proper connectivity as there is no network in our locality. We go and sit in a bus stop to attend online classes and return home once they are over,” said another student from Tamboxem.
