Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has banned online classes for students belonging to Kindergarten upto grade 5 in primary schools of the state.
“We have banned online classes for children in primary schools in the state as recommended by Nimhans director in a report, which said it should be conducted for kids only above 6 years of age,” state Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar told the media.
The announcement came after several complaints were registered to the and Secondary Education Department by a number of parents for holding online lessons even for kindergarten students which affected their physical and mental health, apart from increased screen-time causing fatigue to their young eyes.
“We have directed all schools to stop conducting online classes for LKG, UKG and primary school kids with immediate effect. They should also not collect fee for such teaching,” Kumar added.
Government has ordered private schools to avoid increasing any type of fee for the academic year 2020-21 as parents and guardians of students were getting burdened due to the prevailing weak financial conditions in the coronavirus crisis. Moreover, any school found to be charging students for online classes will be fined.
Experts at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS) too have advocated against online classes and additional screen time for such young students.
The education department has already advised both government and private schools across the state not to reopen after summer till further orders due to the extended lockdown guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“A committee has been set up to frame guidelines on how to engage students at home and improve their knowledge till normalcy is restored,” said Kumar.
The committee, headed by Professor M.K. Sridhar has education experts V.P. Niranjanaradhya and John Vijay Sagar as members.
However, pre-recorded online classes will be continued for students of classes 6 and above in all schools.
Parents have also complained about the pressure being faced by the children from the schools to pace up with the syllabus, compensating for the time lost during lockdown. This is creating a negative impact and affecting the mental health of all students.
DPI spoke about the suggestions offered by many experts which mention reducing the duration of online classes for primary school students to 30 mins.
Minister of Primary and Secondary education S Suresh Kumar said that the DPI has been advised to record videos for different lessons by experts and upload them on YouTube. This will be done for students to access their classes if they aren’t able to during the regular sessions for any reason and teachers to increase their skills with better understanding of the subject.
