Private schools body opposes PM’s online schooling proposal

Bengaluru: The private schools association has opposed the Prime Minister’s suggestion to take schooling online like during the pandemic to tide over the current concerns inflicted by the Iran war.

“For over 500 days, schools were shut during the Covid-19 pandemic. We are yet to recover from the impact it had on our children and their learning levels. Schooling should not be held online, it should be physical,” said D Shashi Kumar, secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka. “Online classes could work for higher education. But, it is definitely not suitable for schools,” he added.

Educationist Niranjanaradhya V P also condemned the recommendation. “Education is not just a passive process of delivering information in a textbook through an online screen. Rather, education is a holistic process of social development, play, interaction with classmates, creativity and building human values,” he said.

“In addition, due to the adverse effects of online education during the Covid pandemic, children are still suffering from serious problems such as mental stress, loneliness, learning disabilities, vision impairment, mobile addiction and social distancing. We have not been able to find solutions to many problems even today. Many countries have banned and regulated the use of digital technology in education. The PM has given a short-sighted suggestion,” he added.