VALPOI
The beginning of the new school academic year and the online learning have yet again brought to the fore connectivity issues for students in remote Surla in Sattari, who are battling the odds to ensure they complete the curriculum.
A mobile company had set up a tower at Surla a year ago, but it has not yet been operationalized. As a result, students are facing connectivity problems, a big impediment for them to study.
Over the last one year, students have been going inside the dense forests to find areas having good network. The villagers, who fear for their wards venturing into the jungles to study, have demanded the government should give priority to the issue and set up towers.
Surla lies on the border of Goa and Karnataka and is a densely forested place.
Due to the non-availability of any other network, the students in this village are deprived of online educational facilities. The network is found in densely forested areas at a distance of about one and a half kilometers from the village.
Students have no choice, but to travel to these good network coverage areas to study amid the fear of being bitten by a snake or attacked by a wild animal.
A student Kunal Gavkar said one of the areas where there is network coverage is a dense forest. "At the back of our minds, there is always this fear of wild animals and snakes. But do we have any other choice?"
"We have been sitting in this dense forest for the last one year and taking exams online," said Nisha Gavkar, who is studying in Parye Bhumika Higher Secondary School. We do not know what to do, she added.
Another student Punaji Gavkar said that the government has started online education in villages where networking is not available.
When contacted, local panchayat member Suryakant Gavkar said the network issue will resolved once the tower set up in the vilage gets power connection.
