Online is the Lifeline of Education: Governor

Hyderabad, Aug 25: Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday said that online has become the lifeline of education.

“Online education has helped the education sector to successfully overcome the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic situation,” she added.

Delivering the inaugural address at the National webinar on “Online Education: Challenges and Opportunities,” organised by the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, the Governor pointed out that connecting the unconnected is a major challenge to ensure equal access to all for the online education.

Though we are able to continue our education thanks to the technology even in these pandemic times, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan called upon the teachers and parents to care for the physical, emotional, social and psychological aspects of the children, as they were denied school and campus life.

“As the students are missing their friends, campuses and sports and other activities due to the closure of institutions, we need to give special care for their all-round wellbeing to boost their morale,” the Governor added.

Listing out the initiatives that enabled our country to seamlessly shift to the online mode of education, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan highlighted the Central government’s efforts in providing broadband connectivity to a massive 2.5 lakh villages through the BharatNet project.

“The initiatives like Digital Classrooms, Digital India Mission and SWAYAM online open access education came handy to help us continue our education uninterruptedly in the pandemic situation too,” the Governor said.

She appreciated the early lead taken by the Telangana State higher education department in launching online classes as early as in April and thus emerging as the first State to begin online classes for UG and PG students.

The Governor exhorted the educational institutions and academicians to create exhaustive online and digital resources of various courses for the benefit of those who faced connectivity and accessibility issues.

NIT, Warangal, Director Prof. N V Ramana Rao, Registrar Prof. S. Goverdhan, Webinar Convenors Prof. Kola Anand Kishore and Dr. Heera Lal were among those who spoke, while 1,000 participants connected from across the country.

-Press note