Daijiworld Media Network - Madikeri (SP)

Madikeri, Aug 24: Even though colleges and schools have reopened in other districts of Karnataka, the educational institutions in Kodagu remain shut because of high Covid positivity rate. The students of Kodagu district therefore heavily rely on online classes. Ironically none of the networks function properly in Kodagu. Therefore, students from villages located near the Kerala border depend on Kerala to attend online classes.

Karike village located on the border of Kodagu and Kerala does not have any network other than BSNL 2G. If there is no power supply, even this network gets shut down. Therefore, students from Karike and Chattukaya villages go to Panathur, Kerala, to listen to their online classes. These students have to go to Panathur by using auto rickshaws or motor bikes, get seated din some open spaces or hillocks, listen to online classes, and then head back to their homes. The students are undergoing this ordeal every day. They have another problem at hand, as the Kerala police demand to see the RT-PCR negative reports from them.

The students who somehow attend the online classes and return, are often stopped by Karnataka police at Karike check post where they seek Covid negative reports. Without reports, they do not allow the students. The students need to have a negative report that is less than 72 hours old. One of the parents, Nasser, says that the students often are stranded at the border check post.

As the parents have to accompany the students to Kerala, families dependent on daily wage, lose their earnings. The deputy commissioner and ministers have repeatedly been told about the network problem but they have not done anything to address the problem, the villagers rue.