PANAJI
With reports of students struggling to cope with online education in rural Goa due to network issues and at times these teenagers trekking dangerous pathways only to get to spots where signals are known to be strong, the issue has now been taken to the door-step of Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai by two of Goa's Opposition parties -- the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Leaders of the two parties met Pillai separately on Thursday and urged him to intervene so that mobile connectivity is improved and online education is stress-free for students, particularly in rural Goa.
MGP's Sudin Dhavalikar who spoke to reporters after meeting the Governor said that students residing in rural pockets of Goa were struggling with no connectivity. He cited the hilly terrain areas in talukas like Sanguem, Quepem and Sattari as the black spots.
"We raised it before the Governor, the lack of infrastructure for online education," Dhavlikar said, adding that students were suffering.
The MGP leader said students from economically weaker sections were also facing difficulties buying smartphones.
"A smartphone costs Rs 8,000. Some students are unable to buy them," Dhavalikar said, adding that this situation cannot be permitted to exclude such poor students from the education system.
NCP's State unit president and former minister Jose Phillip D'Souza also met the Governor on the same issue.
For a second consecutive year, schools in Goa are shut for physical classes and all academic work is being carried out in online mode due to the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic situation and the predicted third wave.
The State government on its part meanwhile, had tweaked its Telecom Infrastructure Policy 2020 earlier this month to bring in some incentives for companies seeking to erect mobile towers in rural areas.
Rentals were slashed to 10 per cent for five years. Before this amendment, service providers had to pay up to Rs 50,000 per month for towers they set up in government property.
