Radio broadcasts of lessons by Bengal Madrasah Board

Kolkata: To assist students in rural West Bengal who are handicapped by inadequate access to online classes due to poor connectivity, the state Madrasah Board has decided to broadcast lessons on radio stations, an official said on Wednesday.

Lessons on different subjects of classes 10 and 12 will be aired thrice-a-week on Vividh Bharti, Air Siliguri and Air Murshidabad radio stations from next week, he said, adding a majority of the 614-odd madrasahs in the state are in Murshidabad and Malda districts.

As classes have been suspended since March-end due to the lockdown, t he Board had in the last few months, imparted online lessons and even handed over study materials and project papers to students' guardians during mid-day meal distribution programmes, its president Abu Taher Kamruddin said.

"However, despite these measures, it was observed that many students in Malda, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts could not get access to online classes. Hence, we decided to air lessons initially for students of classes 10 and 12 to ensure their studies are not hampered," Kamruddin told PTI.

Each subject will be allotted a specific time-slot for the radio lessons which will be imparted by a panel of senior teachers selected by the Board, he said.

"Students have to regularly recharge data packs of their mobile phones for online classes. They will not face such problems for the radio lessons as every household even in remote areas has a radio set," the Board president said.

Around 60 per cent of the students in the higher classes will be benefitted from this programme, he said.

Three months ago, the Board had started the initiative of handing over study materials to the students' guardians when they visited the madrasahs to collect uncooked food items under the mid-day meal scheme.

"This initiative has been very successful as the parents are returning the assignment papers on particular dates. We hope the radio classes will further benefit the students and make up the losses due to the suspension of physical classes," Kamruddin said.

Around six lakh students, including many non-Muslims, are enrolled in the 614 madrasahs in the state, of which 17 are Urdu-medium, he added.

(based on PTI feed)