SANGUEM
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have made elaborate arrangements to reach out to parents across the State through the ‘Shiksha Pe Charcha’, but it was a total failure in a remote part of Sanguem taluka.
Dozens of parents from seven primary schools had gathered at one Government Primary School (GPS) in Netravali, but were left disappointed and had to leave the hall without watching the entire session on account of internet failure.
Parents of students at the seven GPSs in Margawada, Bandwada, Vichindrem, Verlem, Rumdem, Nunem and Kurpem had gathered at the GPS in Margawada in the morning to attend the online session addressed by the chief minister.
However, the parents were left disappointed as all arrangements made to watch the proceedings failed due to lack of internet connectivity.
“Over 60 parents who gathered at the cluster of the seven schools in the village anticipating to get an audience with the chief minister, had to return home disappointment on account of internet failure,” informed a parent and sitting Netravali Panch Rakhi Naik.
“The villagers patiently waited to watch the session of ‘Siksha Pe Charcha’, but there was an internet failure. The villagers, however, managed to hear a small part of the session after one villager managed to get his mobile phone connected for a short while and put it on speaker mode.”
Naik said there is an urgent need to improve internet connectivity in the village, but authorities had failed to address the grievances of the locals.
After they managed to get feedback of the ‘Siksha Pe Charcha’ session from other parts of Sanguem, some villagers in Netravali were disappointed that the chief minister had not taken up any issue concerning government schools in Sanguem taluka.
“A majority of students in Sanguem taluka are studying in Government Primary Schools and it would have been appropriate if some issues concerning schools in remote areas of Sanguem taluka were taken up for some discussion or addressed by the Chief Minister during the ‘Siksha Pe Charcha’ session,” said Naik.
Incidentally, villagers from Netravali have been demanding improvement in internet connectivity in the village since 2019.
The demands became urgent especially during the Covid pandemic when online education was imparted to students.
Villagers residing in the remote Netravali made several representations to authorities to resolve the internet-related problems faced by residents, particularly the students, but to no avail.
