NSDC encouraging skill seekers to acquire new skills

The COVID-19 outbreak is the major accelerator that has led to a mega shift in digital teaching and learning approach.

EDUCATION | Indo Asian News Service  Updated: Apr 13, 2020

New Delhi

Over the past few weeks, the world has seen a paradigm shift in the working and learning styles of people at large, especially young professionals.

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 outbreak is the major accelerator that has led to a mega shift in digital teaching and learning approach.

So, it is quite evident that when we rejoin the workforce post the lockdown, we might see a need to diversify our skill sets, and be prepared for unforeseen times too.

Rather than binging away to your favourite series or just killing time lounging at home, why not add some arsenal to your capabilities?

Amid the lockdown, National Skill Development Corporation’s (NSDC) is encouraging skill seekers to acquire new skills and utilise their time effectively. NSDC’s eLearning aggregator portal, eSkill India portal offers more than 400 courses curated from various knowledge providers. In the recent weeks, eSkillIndia has partnered with EnglishScore, SAS India, Saylor Academy (USA) and UpGrad, thereby providing skill seekers with varied online opportunities.

The eSkill India portal pivots the online skill creating initiatives in collaboration with global leaders in the eLearning domain and thus enabling access to a wide range of courses for users. With strategic knowledge partnerships, the portal leverages technology in continuing the momentum and enables skill seekers to accelerate their learning through methods like virtual learning and remote classroom.

Commenting on the digital and eLearning initiatives, Manish Kumar, MD and; CEO, National Skill Development Corporation, said, “These are unprecedented times and digital learning initiatives are playing a critical role in keeping learners connected and in maintaining continuity. There are a plethora of online resources and platforms that skill seekers and professionals can use to equip themselves with new-age skills in the current scenario. We have several collaborations with leading knowledge providers to facilitate self- learning by providing access to high-quality online learning resources.”

NSDC’s alliance with EnglishScore, an English language assessment app by British Council, aims to provide global standard of English proficiency to the Indian youth. The collaboration brings not just free app access to the Indian youth, but also enables free certification for 1 lakh candidates.

Through its partnership with Saylor Academy, a non-profit headquartered in Washington DC, NSDC opens another gateway to prime quality and global-level skilling opportunities from leading research and academic universities. This facilitates eSkill India to provide high-standard skilling opportunities to Indian youth, with course-credits that are guaranteed by some of the leading universities like Bellevue, Bethel, Brandan, Catholic, Colorado, Southern New Hampshire, Thomas Edison, Maryland etc. The programs are known for their high-quality content and free certification.

eSkillIndia has also partnered with SAS®, the analytics powerhouse, to offer a range of courses on data analytics, machine learning, predictive modeling, statistical business analytics that are useful across all industries like IT, Retail, Pharma, Banking and Finance, Retail, Manufacturing, etc. These new solutions for online education could bring much needed innovation and the user can easily control their career trajectory by gaining comprehensive analytical and research skills that are in great demand in the competitive marketplace.

The partnership with Wadhwani Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, will bring specific skilling and entrepreneurship enhancement initiatives through the portal.

Work-from-home employees and corporate houses can also use their time to enroll and access the wide catalogue of Business / Professional courses and certifications. The users can also enroll in the next-gen analytics courses to discover insights from your data and make more intelligent decisions to drive relevant change.

Knowledge Partnerships of eSkillIndia amongst others include Amrita University, Salesforce, TCS iON, BetterU, Apollo MedVarsity, iPrimed, Liqvid’s English Edge, Fair and; Lovely Foundation, IBM Skills.

Last month, as a part of the commitment to fight the spread of the COVID-19 and fully support the public, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) notified all the establishments under designated and optional trade to pay full stipend to apprentices engaged with them.

Additionally, reimbursement of stipend to establishments under National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) shall be paid by the government for the lockdown period as per the NAPS guidelines.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/covid-19-nsdc-encouraging-skill-seekers-to-acquire-new-skills/story-JfgJOva37NqOKmgxGDHiNO.html

For board exams next year, CBSE schools begin online classes

By: TNN | Apr 16, 2020, 04.12 AM IST

Chennai: With schools remaining closed for nearly a month now due to Covid-19 crisis in the city, CBSE schools have begun online classes for students who are promoted to Class X and XII to compensate loss of working days. Some schools teaching through apps like zoom, teamlink and microsoft teams, other schools are using learning management systems to upload the lessons.

The new academic year supposed to start from April 1 and many schools had originally planned to take classes till third or fourth week of April. "There could be at least one or two months delay in reopening of schools due to Covid-19 crisis. We can make it up during pooja and Christmas holidays. We have started online classes to keep our students engaged," said P G Subramanian, principal of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidhyashram.

Sunitha Vipinchandran, principal of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School said students in Classes X and XII are more responsive to online classes. "We are sending the materials, resources and assignments to parents and they are taking the initiative. The school is also sending the alerts for online classes," she said adding that online classes likely to be extended for other classes as well.

Bala Vidyamandir Senior Secondary School Principal R Srinivasa Raghavan said the school has taken the decision to introduce online classes in the previous year itself. "We have trained our teachers in taking online classes. They are uploading lectures using software. Students can view these lectures using their login ID," he said.

Students can also rate the lectures. Meena Sriram, an English teacher from Bala Vidyamandir said the Covid-19 crisis has helped her school to make a seamless transition to online classes. "Students will not have brakes in academics especially in Classes X and XII. Though there is no interactive audience, it challenges teachers to make it interesting and informative so children be engaged and watch the video. The students also can play it any number of times," she said.

G Chitramala, a Hindi teacher from Modern Senior Secondary School said teachers are prescribing online resources through various apps including teamlink. "We prescribe class timings in advance to the students. Many students are actively participating in the online classes," she said.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/for-board-exams-next-year-cbse-schools-begin-online-classes/articleshowprint/75169449.cms

Facebook launches online resource guide for educational communities

Facebook launches online resource guide for educational communities

Facebook on Monday launched an online resource guide for educational communities on how to collaborate and continue the learning process using Facebook products, tools and programmes while also providing information related to COVID-19 from authentic sources.

By : EDUCATION | Indo Asian News Service | Gurugram | Apr 13, 2020

Currently, the guide is available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada.

In its first phase, Facebook has partnered with the UNESCO, which will support in ensuring the guide reaches learners, educational institutions and teachers across India besides supporting with the updating and curation of the guide with relevant learning resources.

The online resource will help and guide education communities on how to collaborate by using Facebook’s products and tools like Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, Facebook Live, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, said the company.

In addition, it has modules from Facebook’s digital literacy programme - “We Think Digital” to help people think critically and share online thoughtfully.

“Through our online learning resource guide, we want to equip teachers, parents and relevant government officials with ample resources and tools to help them stay connected and collaborate digitally to facilitate remote learning,” Manish Chopra, Director, and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India said in a statement.

The guide will also provide vital information about COVID-19 from authoritative and credible sources such as Government of India’s advisory, WHO India Situation Report Page, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Coronavirus Resource Hub on Facebook, and Guidance from UNICEF on COVID-19 prevention and control in schools and help them in dealing with anxiety and bust misinformation surrounding the ongoing pandemic.

More than 90 per cent of the world’s learners are affected by the school and university closures.

“In line with the global efforts, UNESCO New Delhi will focus on mobilizing the national and state-level actors and resources in order to develop an effective and unified response avoiding overlaps for maximum impact,” said Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative, UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.

“Further, the on-ground needs will be matched with context-appropriate solutions to provide education remotely, leveraging hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches with a special focus on ensuring access for women learners,” Falt added.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com

MHRD looks at 3 options, cancelling remaining examination also possible – reports

CBSE Exams 2020 Update: MHRD looks at 3 options, cancelling remaining examination also possible – reports

Education | Times Now Digital | Updated Apr 13, 2020 |

Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE is yet to announce the new dates for the postponed examination. After the announcement on April 1, 2020 regarding its decision to conduct CBSE 10th 12th board exam 2020 only for 29 subjects, the board is now expected to announce the new exam dates. However, with many states declaring extension of lockdown, reports suggest that there is a possibility that MHRD might instruct CBSE to cancel the examination.

As per a report, the MHRD is considering 3 options for the pending CBSE examinations. The same are listed below. Related News: JEE Main, JEE Advanced & NEET exam likely to be postponed again due to extended lockdown

If the board is allowed to conduct the remaining examinations during the lockdown period (with proper safeguards in place), CBSE may conduct the remaining examination and evaluation work which was left in the middle as well and declare the results by end of May or June.

The second option would be to conduct the examinations and evaluation work after the lockdown is lifted. This however, would lead to a further delay in the examinations. Also, with CBSE Board Examinations (Class 12) pushed back along with many other state board examination deferred, the impact on the entrance examinations like JEE, NEET etc. would also be felt.

The last option is to cancel the remaining board examinations and grade the students based on the internal assessment. This is, please note, one of the last options. Maharashtra SSC Board Examinations for Geography, which was pending, has now been cancelled, raising anxiety that the same may also be done for CBSE Board Exams.

Sources have stated that government officials are now back in office and the basic reports are being compiled. Over the 21 day lockdown period, the number of COVID19 cases have rapidly increased in the country. Experts are confident that the number has been curtailed to a large extend due to the National Lockdown.

The decision on the remaining board examinations and the national level entrance examinations like JEE and NEET are expected to be made by MHRD soon. CBSE and NIOS are the two boards that are supervised by the MHRD. As for the remaining State Boards, the decision would be taken by the respective state governments. Updates are expected by tomorrow.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com

CBSE urges class 11 students to fruitfully utilise their time in online provisional classes

CBSE urges class 11 students to fruitfully utilise their time in online provisional classes

TNN | Apr 13, 2020, 02.57 PM IST

Class XI students who have been offered provisional admissions to their desired streams have been facing uncertainty. Despite stream allocation basis their pre-board results, many of them are in a dilemma, with announcement of results nowhere in sight anytime soon.

Most students are jittery as their choice of subjects may go for a complete toss once the board results get announced. “Right now, we are yet to take a call on the evaluation process and the subsequent result declaration. While continuously assessing the situation, we are keeping in mind the interests of students, evaluators and all other stakeholders in the examination process,” says Sanyam Bharadwaj, controller of examinations, CBSE. His statement comes in the wake of a CBSE notification issued earlier this month which had stated the board is yet to decide on new dates for rescheduled board exams. Also, the Board would conduct exams only for 29 crucial subjects for thestudents of riot hit north-east Delhi.

Commenting on the dates of board results, Bharadwaj says,“We cannot predict anything but ready to face the challenges.” In the current scenario, Bharadwaj advises class XI students to look at provisional classes as a constructive period and learning opportunity. “Provisional classes are an annual feature of schools based on school assessments and pre-board results. In the present online mode, it is a perfect blend of fruitful utilisation of technology and time.”

“To take the stress off students, our school is allocating streams based on students’ interest. This has led to some of the brightest minds gravitating towards humanities subjects. Post the result declaration, we plan to take assessment tests of only those students whose marks did not meet the eligibility criteria of their chosen streams. Plans are also on to consult the parents in their stream selection process,” says Priyanka Kalia, PGT Sociology, Delhi International School, Sector 23, Dwarka.

Commenting on students’ stress over stream allocation at this critical juncture, career counsellor Swati Salunkhe says, “Ideally students should get assessed through psychometric tests in schools where aptitude, intelligence, followed by personality, are at a priority. But when students choose streams, it is usually on the basis of marks, interest, peer and parental pressure/aspirations. The innate potential is not taken into consideration which can only come through a psychometric test conducted by a qualified career counsellor.”

According to Salunkhe, students usually choose streams haphazardly but what they need to do is research their career options thoroughly. “The provisional classes during lockdown would give them the time to reflect upon their choices, attend webinars, consult professional career counsellors online to make an informed decision.”

“Class XI students are not alone in their uncertainty, as graduates and class XII students are battling the same stress. Stay calm and positive amid the crisis," Salunkhe concludes.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CBSE schools urge government to let them collect fees to pay salaries of teachers, staff

CBSE schools urge government to let them collect fees to pay salaries of teachers, staff

By : STAFF REPORTER CHENNAI ,  APRIL 13, 2020

The CBSE Schools Management Association has further asked for the reimbursements for RTE admissions, which have been kept on hold, to be released soon

The CBSE Schools Management Association (CSMA) has appealed to the State and Central governments to let them collect the pending fees from parents to pay staff salaries and ensure the smooth functioning of schools.

In a memorandum, the association president C.S. Manoharan has stated that all schools had to shut down by March 21 owing to the sudden lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19.

“We request the parents and government to understand that lakhs of teachers and other staff members will be drastically affected without their salaries. If the government extends the time for paying fees for the parents, we request the government to give interest-free loans through banks to help schools cover expenses during the lockdown period,” the memorandum stated.

The CSMA has further asked for the reimbursements for RTE (Right to Education) admissions, which have been kept on hold, to be released soon and to grant schools awaiting new or an extension of their affiliation, an extension of one year.

 P. Ashok Shankar, secretary of the association, said that most schools had immediately started online classes and had ensured that students were effectively engaged. “We are following the directives of the CBSE and Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure that learning continues and are taking efforts in facilitating live classrooms and other such activities,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu Nursery Primary and Matriculation Higher Secondary and CBSE Schools Sssociation too, had earlier, appealed for financial exemptions from the government.

The CBSE schools finish their final term exams in March and generally conduct classes for the next academic year for a few days in April before they close down for the summer holidays. Most private State board schools too finish the fee collection for the new academic year in advance and the lockdown, they say, has disrupted this.

“While we understand that it is a tough time for everyone, we want institutions to be allowed to collect fees from parents who are able to and willing to do so. We do not wish to compromise on the salaries of our teaching and non-teaching staff,” a school principal said.

Chennai Chief Educational Officer and other district-level officials have warned schools in their jurisdictions against pressuring parents to pay the fees immediately. When a question was recently raised about schools collecting fees, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said that action would be taken if specific complaints were received about schools pressurising parents.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/cbse-schools-urge-government-to-let-them-collect-fees-to-pay-salaries-of-teachers-staff/article31329844.ece

CBSE releases updated FAQs about class 10 and 12 board exams 2020 at cbse.nic.in

CBSE releases updated FAQs about class 10 and 12 board exams 2020 at cbse.nic.in

Students can check the updated FAQ regarding CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exams here.

Akhilesh Nagari | Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Apr 11, 2020

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday released updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the Class 10 and 12 board exams 2020. Students appearing in the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exams 2020 can check the updated FAQs related to promotion of students to the next class, not holding of remaining board exams in Centres located outside India and many such other queries of students on the CBSE website at cbse.nic.in.

One of the updated FAQ tries to answer the query of a Class 11 student who has been detained in his class due to poor academic record. He is worried that some of his friends have been promoted based on their earlier results. Another FAQ talks about boards decision not to conduct any more exams for class 10 and class 12 students in schools abroad and what will happen to the results of the class 12 students.

Earlier, CBSE had announced that it will be conducting the class 10 and 12 examinations for only 29 main subjects which are crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions. The decision was taken after the Union HRD Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal had a detailed meeting with the Education secretary Amit Khare and other top officials.

you can check the updated FAQ regarding CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exams attached here:

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/

Corornavirus Outbreak: Schools, colleges likely to remain closed after April 14

PM Modi on Wednesday hinted that the Centre in all likelihood will be extending the nationwide lockdown, which means schools and colleges will remain shut for a longer period of time.

India Today Web Desk | New Delhi | April 10, 2020

We have now 6000 plus novel coronavirus cases in India. With the ongoing Pan-India lockdown and all other restrictions, the outbreak is spreading like a wildfire. In the midst of the ongoing outbreak, Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday hinted that the Centre in all likelihood will be extending the nationwide lockdown that is supposed to end on April 14. PM Modi reportedly said that he would consult with Chief Ministers but by all accounts the lifting of the lockdown is not possible’. And if that happens, then automatically, schools and colleges will also remain closed for a longer period of time.

A few days back the Odisha government declared that they will be extending the lockdown. With this, the government also announced that all schools and colleges will remain close till June 17, 2020. The government has said that the lockdown has been extended till April 30, 2020.

Karnataka panel has also suggested extending lockdown at the hot spots beyond April 14, 2020, along with shutting all schools and colleges till May 31, 2020. With this, a group of ministers has also suggested that all the educational institutions should remain closed till May 15, 2020, so as to stop the spread of Coronavirus Outbreak.

CBSE has suggested various ways of the new way of education. Here are some of the highlights to keep in mind:

•        Shift focus from schooling only at schools’ to school-home collaboration for learning’. There can be no better time than this to move beyond the customary parent-teacher meetings and invite parents to a much deeper and long-term relationship in their child’s progress on the learning curve.

•        Head centric role learning must be converted into experimental learning. Now is the time to reintroduce learning by doing’, to tilt the balance away from head heavy theoretical education

•        It is now the time to take this task on as a lesson in space management, time management, and self-management. Advise children in the upkeep of their homes. This shall inspire them to take responsibility to manage their classrooms, labs, and libraries and also help them to manage their enviornment better in the future

•        The importance of greeting with folded hands or Namaste, out food habits and the Ayurveda systems, Yoga, etc are being appreciated worldwide. Encourge the students to do projects on Indian art, language, and culture as apart of their sharpening their understanding on the sustainable aspects of out culture.

•        It is also the time to embrace technology. Make judicious use of it to work with the students and parents, Online classes synced with the normal timetable that you followed while in school, without adequate planning and preparation from teachers, parents, and students, may give more stress without any positive outcomes.

Board exams likely to get delayed further

Now if the lockdown will extend, not only the schools and colleges will remain closed for a longer period of time but also this means that the board examinations including that of CBSE are likely to be delayed further.

In March, CBSE, along with major boards like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh had postponed the class 10 and class 12 board exams to prevent the spread of Coronavirus Outbreak.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/corornavirus-outbreak-schools-colleges-likely-to-remain-close-after-april-14-1665468-2020-04-10

What is PPE?

What is PPE?

If you pick up the newspaper these days, you are bound to come across the acronym PPE. What is it? Personal Protective Equipment.

It is the materials that people need to use to protect themselves in order to do their jobs. Construction workers need things like sturdy boots and hard hats and goggles, for example, while at the construction site. Doctors and nurses and other care workers need to protect themselves in order to help sick people. These include masks to protect their nose and mouth, gloves for their hands, protective eye goggles, gowns to wear over their clothes, and slip covers for their shoes.

This equipment protects the medical personnel from being overly exposed to the virus in patients they are treating. They also change it all when attending to the next patient so that they don’t carry over any germs from one patient to the next.

This is pretty essential equipment to keep us and them safe.

Why are we talking about it these days?

There is a shortage of some of this essential equipment in the world as countries deal with increasing cases of coronavirus. Ordinary people like you and me are wearing them if we go into public spaces like shops and markets to buy supplies. Some of them are washable, some are not. So companies across the globe are trying to make more, even as more businesses and factories are kept closed.

Written by: Sunaina Murthy

Coronavirus pandemic| As schools shift classes online, a lot to learn and unlearn, for teachers, students & parents

Schools have tried to ensure that academic continuity is maintained through virtual classes, but technical glitches, unstructured lessons, lower engagement and connectivity issues are concerns.

By : M Saraswathy@maamitalks

  

Thirty-six-year-old Ravi Rajan’s two children have been attending classes over a virtual platform since March 30. The children, 11-year-old Sharan and six-year-old Tanvi are able to attend e-school only on alternate days. Reason? Rajan only has one laptop which is used for his office work as well. The result is that the children’s attendance will be impacted.

“These are not small sessions but regular school lessons from 8am to 2pm. We don’t have the infrastructure to enable both the children to attend e-school at the same time. Due to this, they will miss out on the classes and will find it tough to catch up when school reopens,” Rajan said.

Amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that has led to a lockdown leading to schools temporarily shutting down, the new academic year has begun across these institutions on a digital mode. While some schools have begun full-fledged e-classes, the rest have sent assignments to be completed on the computer/laptop.

This, however, has seen mixed results, with connectivity issues in using the internet for daily lessons and attention-span deficit among students.

What are the schools doing?

Schools have done a digital ramp-up over the over three weeks to ensure that a child’s learning schedule is not affected due to the suspension of physical classes.

Amol Arora, Vice Chairman & MD, Shemford Group of Futuristic Schools told Moneycontrol that the school’s administrative and IT teams have put together a technology enabled learning programme to ‘reopen’ school in a new, adapted way using online platforms and tools.

“We have commenced the new academic year with Online classes via Google Classrooms and Zoom platform. Families are slowly adapting to this new medium of learning. Using these platforms, we are establishing a ‘live’ connect with our children and families, as well as enabling them to meet and collaborate with each other,” added Arora.

Similarly, at Ryan International Group that has schools across the country started online lessons since March and is also noticing a good rate of attendance among the students.

Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan International Group of Institutions explained that the Ryan Group got off the block in March, to ensure continuity of the teaching-learning process using online classes. "Our past experience with learning technologies with Microsoft and Google, as also our in-house tool PLATO (Personal Learning & Assessment Tool) helped us in this," he says.

The Ryan Group has online classes for students from Montessori to Grade 12. Pinto added that attendance is upwards of 85 percent.

Several schools are following this model to ensure that the exact school experience is replicated.

Neil McWilliam, Head of School, Oberoi International, OGC (Goregaon) Campus said that Oberoi International School shifted to online learning from March 23 onwards. According to him, attendance for e-lessons is ‘almost perfect’ across classes.

"When the students ‘sit in’ classes using mediums such as Google Hangouts, Zoom, Seesaw and Managebac, you can see kids who are engaged, active, and happy," he added.

A new learning for teachers

It is not just the students and parents, but the teachers who are having to unlearn and relearn the way to teach students. Since a traditional blackboard method may not work for e-classes, teachers are learning to adapt to technology as well.

For making the transition from school to home simpler, teachers at Shemford Group of Futuristic Schools are being provided training in the form of webinars, YouTube videos and masterclasses for questions related to the time table, managing children attending e-classes among others.

The level of engagement of students in online and offline mediums are also different. Ryan Group’s Pinto explained that since online teaching is quite different from a physical classroom, teachers need to find new and innovative ways of keeping students engaged for a longer period.

Some schools have already been using digital technology as part of the lesson delivery. Hence these schools may not face too many challenges.

Rajiv Bansal, Director-Operations, Global Indian International School (GIIS) India said that virtual classes are being offered across campuses in India and overseas that will benefit over 11,000 students.

“We have been using this technology for over 5 years and therefore the teachers were able to move on to virtual classes almost immediately once the lockdown was announced. The lockdown has enabled teachers to be constantly in touch with their students, solve their doubts and monitor their performance on a real-time basis,” he added.

At GIIS, the students have the flexibility to log-in and join the class through their mobile phones or any other personal device from home. Apart from the student handbooks and video tutorials that have been shared, the school also has set up a helpdesk to resolve queries.

What are the concerns?

Though the lockdown has forced children and schools to go online, technical glitches mean that there are constant interruptions. Further, children are more distracted when looking at a screen, from their respective homes.

McWilliam also admits that technology on its own would not ensure success.

“Children learn very little by staring at a computer screen. Learning is an interactive, collaborative process which depends heavily on the quality of the relationships between students and teachers and between students and other students,” he added.

A pan-India school chain decided that they would take one class a day for 30-40 minutes. But merely few days after it was introduced the classes had to be suspended due to a technical glitch. Students are now awaiting clarity on whether this system will be resumed or if they would directly break for the summer vacations.

The level of internet connectivity also varies from region to region. This could be a problem when live classes are held since students in poorly connected areas would miss the lessons.

“Network connectivity & adequate smart devices have been a challenge. Families no longer fight for the TV remote, but for the computer, tablet or the internet connected device instead. At times, there are connectivity issues. Not everyone has the required internet bandwidth to access lessons,” added Pinto.

Why are parents worried?

Some schools are offering structured programmes, while several others are merely sending slideshows for students to follow.

Preeti Menon, a 39-year-old banker told Moneycontrol that her daughter’s school has merely sent homework assignments for her daughter who is in the eighth grade.

“They have sent some videos with instructions related to the lessons in the textbook. But these are not live videos and merely slideshows. I feel the students are missing out since there is no teaching happening,” she added.

Menon is now worried that once school reopens, the teachers will rush through the lessons across subjects to ensure that the academic year syllabus is completed on time.

Another parent Dipali Roy is worried about whether her son will be made to study through the summer vacations.

“My son’s school has asked us to not plan any vacation till further notice from the principal. It is clear that they may have regular school during the summer vacations between May 5 to June 15,” she added.

Schools also may not have had adequate time to prepare for the technology changes that were to be made. Which is the reason why students are getting impacted.

Delhi resident Areef Ahmed told Moneycontrol that his son’s ICSE medium school offered a 10 percent refund in wake of the lockdown if the full year fees were paid. But there were caveats.

“The school said that parents can buy a tablet for students to attend online lessons. But these are not structured classes and just merely 30-minute instructional videos. Why should we spend on this,” he added.

Similarly, electronic books are also being seen as a bane since there is a likelihood of the child’s eyesight being affected due to constant staring at a digital screen.

What lies ahead?

With speculations of a further extension of the lockdown, the biggest worry among parents is how would the periodic assessments be held. And whether digital assessments would be feasible.

“The quarterly unit tests gauge how well students have understood the concepts taught in classrooms. With classes not being properly conducted, how will they conduct these tests,” wonders financial services professional Mihir Vashisht who has a 12-year-old daughter.

The next four to six weeks will be crucial to understand how schools are able to withstand the challenge and whether further deployment of technological tools will be required.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/