This is a huge question troubling us in our state today. I’m a mom of a 5th grader and I’ve seen them take classes online for the past 3 weeks. They are soooo happy with the them. And not to mention looking forward to them every single day. I have not seen my daughter do her assignments so enthusiastically before. Maybe it’s the new format which excites them or whatever! She looks forward everyday to seeing her friends in class and interacting with them. She is excited to learn with technology and has adapted to it so quickly.

To brief you on how her school is handling it. They have subscribed to G suite and so everything is integrated. The classrooms, the video calls on Google meet, the assignments and turning them in. They use these tools very commonly abroad but for a place like India its a completely new concept. Never before had we to work on assignments on the computer and use the internet facilities to submit them. Its new, its exciting and it is such a huge step forward in getting the kids ready for the real world. 

The school has classes starting at 8:30 am and ending at 12:40pm. This includes 30 minutes of class teacher time which is basically the children and the class teacher getting to know each other better. Then they have 3 other classes till lunch. in between each class they have a 15-20 minute break which enables them to walk around, stretch and give their eyes some rest. Post lunch starting at 1:10 they have only discussions with teachers regarding any difficulties. 

The reason I’m sharing this so much in detail is that I want to highlight, that their school is taking every step possible to not burden students with this. To make sure screen time is limited and that the kids get enough breaks in between. I ususally don’t allow my kids to watch TV more than an hour on holidays and 30 minutes on a school day, unless of course they are watching a movie which is once a week. Still i find this pretty reasonable and comfortable.

I have not seen her getting tired or irritated or grumbling about the fact that she has to attend school on the computer. At least its better than whiling away their time. In this time of lockdown, the kids have been very badly affected. They cant step out of the house or meet anyone. They havn’t interacted with anyone other than family since March! That’s over 2 months! Through this medium they are able to interact with their friends and also with their teachers. Even if it is online, they are still creating a bond with the teachers.

And here…. our state government is hell bent on banning live classes for children upto grade 7! They say that screen time is too much and children have to sit in one place and concentrate at one thing for too long. However, pre recorded sessions are fine! really??? then where are you stopping screen time? Isn’t that too an added screen time? If you ban classes children will spend time on TV and other gadgets. Can you ban that too? They say that less priviledged families cannot afford internet and computers. Then find a solution for that. Another state has put pre recorded sessions on their local TV channel. Do something like that for the government school students. Find a way!!! 

Put some guidelines in place for schools. Like limiting the number of classes or compulsory breaks in between. I know schools who have started classes like regular school. From 8:30 till 2:30 they are attending classes online like a regular school, with only a short break and a lunch break. That can be harmful for the kids.

P’s school and teachers have worked really hard to engage the students positively. The massive effort the teachers have put in is commendable, to be able to adapt to this new medium and teach so well. Yes, this is slower than a normal class…. but its happening. They are all getting used to this format and picking up. Teachers are so patient with the students. Somebody’s video is off, somebody has a poor connection, one student cannot understand and so on. Their teachers have one support staff too in the class who makes sure these minor hurdles can be taken care of. Ask a student to switch on camera or make sure all students are on mute so that the teacher is not wasting her time and energy on this.

I only want to tell the government…. Please do not put a ban just like that. You need to take all stakeholders’ opinions on this. When you say pre primary… its fine. 1st and 2nd grade also i can understand . But beyond that it will only hamper the kids learning. If kids are kept away from learning for a very long time, that too is detrimental to them. In this scenario of so much uncertainty, we do not know when schools will be able to open. Parents will definitely prefer this mode than to physically send their kids to school. If this scenario continues over 6-8 months it would mean almost 3/4th of the school year gone. What then? if you ban uptil 7th, who will you put in 8th grade next year? The entire world has acceted this medium then why not us? Are our state kids something different from children all over the world? Please make sure you make a properly informed decision and not something in haste. Put guidlines in place instead of a ban!

Edit: As I was penning this down, a new article says they will be banning pre recorded sessions as well till grade 5. You want to open schools soon? this is a complete failure all over the world. What are our kids supposed to do? This is going from bad to worse. It’s enraging how they want to control the parents personal choice to allow their kids online education.