Twenty Calcutta Rescue students were given new smartphones on Monday 17 August- allowing them to interact with their teachers online and access a wealth of internet learning materials.
Many of the 650 youngsters being educated by the charity don’t have access to smartphones which has left them at a severe disadvantage since schools across India were forced to close in March due to the pandemic. It now looks likely that schools may not reopen until the end of the year making it even more important to get these students smartphones.
A shortage of mobile phones for sale in Kolkata, and a restriction on people only being able to buy four phones online per month, led to an initial delay.
But funding for all the necessary phones and data plans has now been raised by the charity’s international support groups and in September, 29 more students got brand new smartphones for their studies.
Welcoming the new phones, charity chief executive Jaydeep Chakraborty said: ” Without the interaction with teachers they provide, many of our youngsters are likely to fall further behind in their education and may fall out of the system altogether.”
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Calcutta Rescue needs a new vehicle to travel to villages and districts in West Bengal to deliver life-saving medicines and food benefits to some of the region’s poorest and most ailing.
Around 3000 visits have been made to patients’ homes since the lockdown in India began at the end of March. As India’s COVID cases continue to accelerate, such doorstep delivery will continue. And therefore, Calcutta Rescue’s 20 year old jeep must be replaced.
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