Sundargarh: Online education has still remained a distant dream for students living in remote villages of of Sundargarh district. This is because of lack of internet connectivity.
One such village is in the district is Rangamati. The village still does not have any mobile network available. There are mobile phones, but without any connection.
So online learning is not possible for students living in this village. Every day they trek three kilometres to reach a small hill top in Kadopani panchayat which is in neighbouring state Jharkhand to attend online classes.
It is the closest place where some form of network is available. Approximately, 50 students from Classes I to VII attended the online classes conducted by Soni Sangeeta Dungdung.
The students of Tirolakucha village under Gurundia block also experience the same predicament every day. Amar Mundari, Sachin Mahali and Gopal Oram were seen sitting on top of Jhandi hill Saturday, seven kilometres away from their village.
When asked, they said they are giving their online tests. As there is connectivity problems in their village, they had no option, but to travel this far. Amar is a Class IX student while Sachin and Gopal study in Class VII.
They are students of a private school in Bhubaneswar. The school is conducting online classes on a regular basis and the examinations started July 1.
When asked, the trio said they have regularly been trekking the distance to attend the online classes and exams. “We don’t have mobile networks in our village. So we have no other option but to travel this arduous journey every day as the network is only available there,” the three said in unison.
PNN