JOIN USNot all parents on same wave length over online classes
The decision by some of the private unaided schools to conduct online classes for children, even at KG level, has received mixed reactions from parents.
Some parents said a clear ‘no’ to online classes, a line of thought which got a shot in the arm after Nimhans submitted a report stating that online classes should not be held for children below the age of 6 years.
However, another set of parents have started an online petition to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar.
The online petition says, “Article 26 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children” (United Nations, 2011).
However, more recent policies have sought to regulate and limit parental choice, including the recent tweets/articles indicating that the State Governments get to decide if or when a child can be educated.”
A parent who has started the petition on change.org said, “We as adults seek social connection and semblance of routine by interacting with friends and colleagues on platforms like Zoom. Why not extend that right to a child? Our children are missing connecting to their friends at school, they miss their teachers and talking to them. We see an upsurge on screen time usage for young children, why not use that screen time to connect with school?”
“We don’t know how long this will last, much like other aspects that we are embracing as the ‘new normal,’ I want to retain the freedom to decide the education outcomes for my child. As a parent, we have made a choice on the school that we send our children to. The right to choose if my child should attend online classes is mine,” the parents say
collectively.
The parents who are not entertaining online classes have their version: “how many parents have laptop, desktop and a proper chair for child to sit and attend online class for 3-4 hours? Don’t you think it’s unscientific and unhealthy?,” questions a parent.
“Some schools even issued time table for online classes with consent from parents and what is more disgusting is schools asking kids to wear uniform while attending online class and also conducting morning assembly,” says
another parent.
“In my case, me and my husband are not friendly in using laptop or computer, now school has asked us even to upload assignments of my son online. Who will help him? How can a class 2 child do it,” says another parent.