The students and teachers in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are finding it tough to keep up with the pace of their counterparts in other states owing to the low-speed internet as schools have started online classes to help students during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The schools are using different kinds of digital modes to connect with students to save their crucial academic year and continue with studies, but due to the restricted internet speed, teachers are finding it hard to take online classes as there is only 2G internet speed available in the Union Territory.

“I face numerous problems when it comes to the teaching-learning process through online classes. Due to the slow internet speed, at times I’m not able to connect my class or students may find it difficult to come online. We also are not able to connect to other online resources, which can be helpful while teaching. Due to this, the children are also suffering as they are not able to conceptualize any topic clearly,” an Army school teacher said.

“We have been asked by school authorities to teach students the way we do in regular school and for this, we are assigned a time slot. Due to slow internet, we are unable to give undisrupted online lectures to students. We are already under lockdown, and we don’t want our students to suffer anymore. So the authorities should pay heed to our concern of restoring 4G speed”, said a school teacher, Priya.

“We as students are unable to surf through any videos which can help clear our doubts more efficiently. When teachers send us any assignment or link to visit, we feel like sticking to the screens of phones or laptops waiting long for a page to open or download any document. It is inversely affecting our eight sights and wasting our precious time as well”.

“People are working from home during this lockdown and students are learning through various online platforms. I urge the government to immediately restore 4G for effective and efficient online education in J&K”, said an educationist, Jatin Kapoor.