Long-distance lessons

An educational non-profit virtually connects rural children with teachers who can instruct in their native language ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA

- ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA

BEFORE THE second wave of COVID-19 infections hit the country in April this year, Leela O M, a biotechnologist from Bengaluru, would get in front of her computer a few times each week and connect with a laptop in a hostel for children of tribal communities in Alappuzha, Kerala. On the other side, a group of children with notebooks and pencils in hand would greet her in their native language, Malayalam, and then the class would begin for the day.

When I first began teaching English and Mathematics to these students of class 11 and 12, they were extremely apprehensive. But given that we communicate in their native tongue, they have gained confidence to speak up and raise questions, she says.