First Bell for online classes in Kerala schools from June 1

Sessions to be made available through KITE Victers channel and other mechanisms for all classes except class 11

Classes for State school students, under the name First Bell, will get under way on June 1 through the KITE Victers channel and other online mechanisms.

The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) on Friday brought out the timetable for conducting the classes.

Sessions

The sessions will be held from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday for all classes from 1 to 12, except class 11, on the channel. The time slots for different classes vary from half-an-hour to two hours.

The programmes will be telecast against. While lessons for class 10 will be conducted at 5.30 p.m. the same day, those for class 12 will be repeated at 7 p.m. For classes 1 to 9, the repeats will on Saturday and Sunday. The timetable will be available on the KITE Victers website, KITE Victers channel, and social media.

The sessions on Victers channel will be available simultaneously on the KITE Victers website, mobile app, and social media pages.

Trial basis

In the first week, the classes will be telecast on a trial basis. These will be repeated in the second week.

The modules for different classes will be prepared by agencies under the General Education Department such as the State Council of Educational Research and Training, KITE, Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK), and the State Institute of Educational Technology. The SCERT will monitor the academic process and KITE will take up the technical coordination.

Class teachers and school headteachers have been given the task of ensuring that students have access to television, smart phone or computer, and Internet for the classes. If not, they should decide on alternatives to view the classes either in real time or later. The alternatives can include television or Internet facilities of neighbours, friends living nearby, libraries or Akshaya centres.

In distant areas, the help of SSK coordinators, Student Police Cadets, National Service Scheme volunteers, or laptops and projectors available with Little KITEs members too can be used. If students experience any difficulties, the headteachers can turn to parent-teacher associations, local bodies, or Kudumbashree units for a solution.

Teachers should get in touch with the students through phone, social media, directly, or other means for clearing doubts.

Samagra Shiksha Kerala has been tasked with preparing worksheets for students of classes 1 to 7 and monitoring these.