After guidelines coming from the ministry of human resources (MHRD) on spending screen time for students of various levels it is highly likely that schools will have only online session of learning this year.
State government had already prepared a detailed programme for the students of state run schools including chapters, lesson plans and various digital platforms to facilitate online learning.
‘It is true that online teaching programme has its own limitations and challenges. But do we have any option,’ asks a senior official of the school education department, requesting not to be named.
Children are highly vulnerable to Covid 19 therefore all schools are closed. Cases are increasing day by day. One doesn’t know when it will end- can we leave children’s studies till then, he quips. As far as government preparations are concerned, school education department has trained the teachers properly besides informing them about the changing scenario post-covid.
‘This is a strange situation. One is left with no option than to teach online but students from government schools will be worst sufferers,’ said Ashutosh Pandey, state convener of Shikshak Congress.
The MHRD has recommended that duration for online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes. For classes 1 to 8, the HRD Ministry has recommended two online sessions of up to 45 minutes each while for classes 9 to 12, four sessions of 30-45 minutes duration have been recommended.
‘Extended school closures may cause loss of learning. Vaccine for corona is expected to take at least one year. Till then this is the only option,’ said Rekha Shrivastava, retired principal of a government school.
The school education department has prepared a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school model, said PRO Rajya Shiksha Kendra Amitabh Anuragi. Books have been sent to the students and teachers are monitoring the progress of online classes by visiting houses of the students.
