Solaiyur (Kerala): A student assumes the role of a teacher to educate other children who do not have enough facilities to take up online education.
Anamika, a class 8 student, has turned her house into a classroom to teach other children in her village as there are no facilities to access online classes.
Solaiyur is a tribal village situated in Palakkad district on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. Anamika is the daughter of Sudhir and Sasi, both residents of Solaiyur. Their eldest daughter Anamika who was studying in Class 8 at a boarding school at Trivandrum had returned home as schools have been closed due to the lockdown.
When schools have started conducting online classes due to the pandemic lockdown, the people of the village were not able to access it as the village has no access to electricity or internet service. Anamika, understanding that the education of the children from her tribe would suffer if the situation persists, started teaching children who are unable to access online classes. Sudhir, who is supportive of his daughter’s initiative, has turned one of the rooms in their house into a classroom.
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Anamika learns German, Malayalam, Tamil and English at school and teaches the children here. She conducts classes from 9 am to 1 pm for the children and also teaches them how to translate stories in Malayalam.
“Though I study at Trivandram, I visit my hometown Solaiyur often. I had returned home due to the pandemic lockdown. Since we do have internet service in our village, we are unable to access the online classes through smartphones. I started this special class with the support of my father to share the basic knowledge of the languages I know to the children in my village. It would be helpful for us, especially during the pandemic, if internet facility is provided to our village. We also request the government to make arrangements for the availability of books and other requirements for school students at the Attappadi as we have to go to Coimbatore or Palakkad to buy books,” Anamika said.
Talking about the initiative of his daughter, Sudhir said, “I am a daily wage worker. My daughter is unable to access the online classes due to the circumstances here. By providing internet facility to our village, my daughter and other children in our village would be able to study online. Though the Government and a lot of volunteers help us out in many ways, we request necessary action to be taken to provide basic facilities for our children to access online classes.”
“I didn’t want my daughter to be saddened by the fact that she could not access the online classes so I encouraged her to teach the languages she knows to other children. So I converted the hut we live into a classroom where more than 15 children are being benefitted,” he added.
