PANAJI: Even as school education has moved online for over a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the full extent of the state’s problem with internet connectivity was recently revealed, as a Union education ministry report stated that just 8.4% of the 827 government schools in Goa have an internet connection.
In this aspect, Goa fares worse than the national average for government schools, which is 11.5%, according to the Unified district information system for education (U-DISE) report, 2019-20. This makes the state’s coverage for government schools on this parameter comparable to those in Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Some, like Kerala and Delhi, boast of over 85% coverage.
Over 750 of Goa’s 827 government schools are primary institutions, which are largely without computers or internet connectivity, appearing to be largely the factor in dragging the state down on this parameter.
This also throws light on the conditions in which government primary school teachers may have been left to connect with students to continue teaching online during the pandemic.
The wide gap between facilities in government-run and private aided and unaided ones is visible from the U-DISE 2019-20 data. Over 76% aided schools and almost 80% unaided schools from primary to higher secondary level have internet connectivity. This coverage of internet facilities for aided and unaided schools is among the top six states and UTs in the country.
When it comes to availability of an operational computer in the school, only 17.6% of Goa’s government schools have one, also worse than the national average of 28.5%. In comparison, nearly 90% aided schools and 93.5% unaided schools in Goa have a functional computer or computers available.
According to the data, Goa is among the best in availability of basics in schools, with 100% across government and private managements covered with facilities like electricity, drinking water, hand wash, functional toilets and separate toilets for boys and girls. All the around 1,500 schools, including government ones, also have a library of their own.
Except six schools in Goa, all others have tap or treated water as its drinking water source.
