advertisement
Video Producer: Maaz Hasan
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
It's been over 15 months since the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in March 2020, children at Kotga village in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur are still struggling to get online education. Mobile connectivity and access to internet continues to be a major challenge for them.
The village, which is seven to eight hours away from Shimla, is situated at the height of approximately 1,800 meters from sea level. Forget 3G or 4G, this village lacks basic network connectivity. This has raised concerns, as students are not able to study online during this tough time.
Children have to travel two to three km out of the village in search of a mobile network.
Even the parents of these students struggle for the same.
The situation has come to a point where the families who can afford to migrate are shifting to nearby cities and towns at lower altitude that have mobile connectivity.
However, the families who can not afford to shift are left with no option but to continue their struggle for mobile network in their strive to provide education for their children.
Rameshwar Sharma, who cannot even afford a mobile for his daughter Saroj Shamra, sends her to Sataun, a village situated at lower altitude in Sirmaur district, to study with her friend.
Since there is absolutely no network in the village, villagers get helpless in times of medical emergencies.
Residents demand that a mobile network tower be installed in the area so that problems due to mobile network connectivity can be resolved.
(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 16 Jul 2021,07:05 PM IST