COVID19: Pained by students’ plight, Sopore teenager develops website to teach kids online

Srinagar, Mar 27: Eighteen-year-old Abid Ali of Sopore spent many sleepless nights thinking about how he could help students after authorities closed schools and banned social gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“After Educational Institutions where shut, my neighborhood children approached me for tuition. Since the assembly of people was banned, I could not help them. This thing pinched me and I could not sleep for many nights thinking about ways to help these children,” said Abid, a Class 11 student.
Days later, Abid developed an interactive website to teach students from classes 3 to 10 online.
“After so many efforts I came up with `Blooming Dales’ for online teaching last week. What I needed next was teaching staff for online lecturers. I told one of my sisters if she can teach students online. She posted an update on women’s group YAKJUT on Facebook and scores of interested people came forward,” he said.
Abid had to shell out Rs 5000 to develop the website which could work on low-speed internet. “I used my savings for the website. In just a few days, 25 students have registered and 50 teachers have come forward to teach them without charging money,” he said.
M.tech student Soliha Kousar is one of the teachers who has registered for teaching students online. “After reading the post, I decided to contribute by teaching kids online. Students have suffered a lot due to lockdown,” she said.
Soliha said that she has been assigned to teach science for class 8 and 9. “I record lectures on the phone and then upload it on the website. I also upload notes for the students”, she said.
Dr. Rukhsana Maryam, who teaches English to students of 7th, 8th and 9th classes said this is a unique initiative to help kids during tough times.
“Students can sit at home and attend online classes. But internet speed is making it tough. I tried to upload video since morning but it is still not uploading. The government should restore high-speed internet so that students do not lose another academic year”, she said.