DD, AIR broadcast virtual classes through regional channels

Doordarshan and All India Radio are broadcasting virtual classes and other educational content through their regional channels across the country on TV, radio and YouTube to help students learn during lockdown, the government said on Thursday.

As all schools across the country are closed, these virtual classes are helping lakhs of students, especially those in Class 10 and 12, in preparation for their board and competitive examinations, according to an official statement.

The virtual learning through DD and AIR include curriculum-based classes for primary, middle and high-school level students.

Secondary School Leaving Certificate subjects and model question papers for Class 10 students are also being made available in some states, it said.

Many of these classes help students prepare for their engineering and medical entrance examinations.

To keep the learning interesting, apart from course books, virtual classes in few states include quiz shows and story telling by eminent personalities, it said, adding that most of these classes start early morning and few are repeated in the afternoon.

Doordarshan Kendras that are already broadcasting virtual classes are Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir.

All India Radio stations broadcasting virtual classes are Vijaywada, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Madurai, Trivendrum, Tirunelveli, Panaji, Jalgaon, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Parbhani, Aurangabad, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Gangtok, Guwahati, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur.

The stations broadcasting educational content are Bhopal, Chennai, Kozhikode and Thrissur.

On an average, a DD channel is airing two-and-a-half hours of educational content daily and an All India Radio channel 30 minutes.

Also, the total number of hours of daily content across DD network is 17 hours and 11 hours across All India Radio network, it said.