IIT Madras faculty to teach upper primary students in Varanasi

:The faculty of IIT Madras will now teach students of government upper primary schools in Varanasi under “Project Vidya Shakti”. An agreement has been signed between IIT Madras and department of basic education, Varanasi, recently in this regard. These online “smart” classes are most likely to start from April 15.

According to a press statement, teachers of IIT Madras will teach students of 6th to 8th standard in upper primary government schools of Varanasi. The online classes will start in 100 schools as a pilot project and the children will be taught subjects including maths, science and English.

Basic Shiksha Adhikari Arvind Pathak said that an agreement has been signed with IIT Madras, in which IIT teachers will teach classes 6 to 8 students of government schools in Varanasi. All classes will run online after school hours, he added.

Block education officer, Shashikant Srivastava said that 70 upper primary schools were already equipped with the smart classes in Varanasi and now the process to equip 30 schools with smart classes through IIT Madras was underway.

IIT Madras would have a local youth as coordinator for technical support in each school. This will also provide employment to 100 people and Iis cost will be borne by IIT Madras, added the press statement.

UP government led by Yogi Adityanath is trying to bring government schools in competition with convent schools. As part of it, the primary and upper primary school buildings have been beautified and revamped. Now smart classes have been made in most of the schools.