With the joint efforts of state Congress government and BJP-led Centre, over one crore students in Rajasthan shall be able to attend regular lessons on Aakashwani.
Prakash Javadekar, Union I&B Minister on Monday accepted the request made by state education minister Govind Singh Dotasara to make a few slots available on radio platform so that students of rural areas can also learn their regular school lessons, who unlike the private school students, were deprived from accessing online classes.
Prasar Bharati gave a nod to run 51 classes which shall run till June 30. Each class shall run for 55 minutes, Dotasara told adding "It's a new beginning where the politics has taken a backseat for the sake of students' future. We are thankful to the central government for accepting this request which will benefit over one crore students in the state."
Dotasara further opined that central government will also permit slots on Doordarshan too. "I have requested for the slot on DD also and am hoping to get permission on same grounds," he told .
Dotasara, a few days back, had written a letter to Javadekar requesting him for a few slots on Akashwani and Doordarshan to ensure rural students too can learn their lessons during lockdown as they have been unable to do so due to lack of broadband connectivity and electronic gadgets.
Unlike the private school students, these students can't attend online classes as they don't have required infrastructure including high speed internet and gadgets like smartphones and computers. Now, this decision comes as a blessing for them, he said.
BJP state president Satish Poonia also supported Congress government in this cause. He had also written a letter to Javadekar pushing for the facility.
"Dotasara also requested me to speak to Javadekar in this content. Hence I wrote a letter to him and also spoke to him. As a result, the central government took this decision in favour of the students who are future citizens of India. I thank Javadekar for paying heed to my request," he added.
Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has written to State Education Training and Research Centre to share the school syllabus which needs to be aired on Aakashwani. An MoU shall also be signed with state body in context of uploading the content on online platforms, said officials.
( With inputs from IANS )