KITE to roll out G-Suite to plug loopholes in remote learning
The Hindu
Platform has been activated on a pilot basis in 400-odd schools across Kerala
The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is all set to roll out G-Suite, an exclusive platform for online learning in schools, which is expected to address the existing multifarious problems of remote learning. It facilitates login for 47 lakh students and 1.70 lakh teachers in Kerala by bringing them all under a single domain (). While students may log in using their admission numbers, teachers will use their unique Permanent Employee Numbers. The platform has been activated on a pilot basis in 400-odd schools across the State. “We will further fine-tune the system using the feedback from the trial run. While the general platform has been provided free of cost by Google India, we retain complete control over it. Significantly, no sensitive individual details of students and teachers will be shared with a third party,” said K. Anvar Sadath, KITE CEO.
“A small evergreen tree native to South America, it is reported to have been introduced to our parts in the 16th century. It “adoption” could have been the result of the ornamental value it brought to a landscape: it puts out striking bluish purple flowers that attract butterflies and has bright yellow-orange fruits. In Tamil, it is called seemai vairamaram,” says T.D. Babu, a member of the Chennai District Green Committee and a key member of tree conservation organisation Nizhal. Babu underlines its special features — “considered densest and water-proof, this tree’s has been used in ship building. Its resin and bark are said to have medicinal properties. These factors led to its commercial exploitation and dwindling numbers.” In light of the threat of extinction faced by this tree, one would expect more care to be given to the clutch of Roughbark lignum-vitae trees found in Chennai. One of them has the Queen Mary’s College Campus for an address. Babu notes that the base of the tree has suffered damage, not natural but human-inflicted in the past. It also displays “wounds” further up its gnarled frame — an amputated branch. Babu wants the state of the tree’s precincts to reflect its preciousness. Currently, the earth it stands in is overrun with weeds.

Amid pressure on the Karnataka government to hand over the H.N. Nagamohan Das Commission report on internal reservation to a Cabinet sub-committee to study it, several Dalit organisations, under the banner of Federation for Social Justice for Scheduled Castes, will start their indefinite protest from Monday morning, seeking immediate implementation of the report.