Insight Bureau:  A survey conducted under the Shikhya Sanjog showed that, only 29% of students in Odisha had access to smartphones to pursue studies during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash revealed this in the Odisha Assembly on Wednesday.

With over 71% students across Odisha not having access to smartphones for various reasons, only 13.38% of students in Kandhamal district had smartphone. The highest number of students in the district did not have access to online education.

In Rayagada district, only 14.34% of children have smartphones, while 75.6% of children do not have access to online education.

However, in Balasore district 38%, in Bargarh 41.22%, in Bhadrak 32.7%, in Balangir 28.04%, in Boudh 18,6%, in Cuttack 37.60%, in Deogarh 14.6%, in Dhenkanal 31.4%, in Gajapati 15.36%, in Ganjam 29.35%, in Jagatsinghpur 38.75%, in Jajpur 31.24%, in Jharasuguda 43.1956%, in Kendrapara, 42.24%, in Keonjhar, 21.6%, in Khordha, 45,605, in Koraput, 14%. 16.22% in Malkangiri, 21.32% in Mayurbhanj, 18.03% in Nabarangpur, 33.28% in Nayagarh, 21.75% in Nuapada, 35.83% in Puri, 24.8% in Sambalpur, 28.02 in Sonpur, 28.7 in Sundargarh students have smartphones, Minister for Mass Education, Das, said.

It can be mentioned here that YouTube Live Classes were organized online for students in view of the pandemic. Similarly, videos were made on Doordarshan (Odia) from Monday to Friday on various subjects and aired for 1 hour.

Odisha Government had implemented the Shikhya Sanjog Programme across Odisha to provide online education to students through WhatsApp.