Parents give thumbs down to e-classes for primary students

NT NETWORK

Panaji

Many parents, teachers and educationists have given thumbs down to the proposal of the directorate of education (DoE) to implement e-learning for primary level students in Goa.

The DoE, in association with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and Goa Samagra Shiksha (GSS) has already trained around 10,000 school teachers from Goa as regards online teaching, and proposes to implement e-learning for students from primary level to higher secondary level until the classes reopen for the academic year 2020-21.

Ramesh Kamat (name changed), parent of a primary student, said that all this while it was propagated that any device using a Wi-Fi or cell signal, emits some amount of radiation in the form of radiofrequency energy including smart phones, tablets and laptops. “They further said that kids are most vulnerable to radiation emitted by such gadgets,” he added, pointing out that e-learning should be restricted to elderly students and primary students should not be exposed to it from the safety point of view.

Incidentally, the Karnataka State Department of Primary and Secondary Education has already banned online classes for students from kindergarten to middle level.

Pandurang Nadkarni, a former chairman of the Goa Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, said that e-learning through smart phones, tablets or laptops will be very difficult not only for primary level school students in Goa but also for the higher level students here.

“This is because the students in Goa, may be with the exception of those studying in elite private schools, were never exposed to e-learning,” Nadkarni observed, suggesting that the department of education can record the sessions of different subjects for various classes and telecast them on Goa Doordarshan as well as broadcast on the

Panaji station of All India radio.

“However, they should have a foolproof time-table for the same,” the former Goa Board chairman mentioned, pointing out that subjects like English, science and mathematics will need more sessions, while subjects like social science and second/ third language will require lesser number of sessions. “That way the problem of internet range will also be solved,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the headmaster of a city primary school, on the condition of anonymity, said that pedagogy or the approach to teaching and imparting knowledge is very much different for the primary students. “These primary students, who are at the initial stage of their education, cannot understand things unless and until a teacher is physically present and speaks to them,” the headmaster maintained, pointing out that e-learning for primary students will turn out to be a “distant learning” for them in the real sense of the word.

Gajanan Bhat, former director of education, observed that e-learning would be a difficult mode of education for primary students. “The department of education had set up computer laboratories for students of class VIII as well as later classes,” he recalled, stating that, therefore, secondary and higher secondary students can cope with e-learning easily. “However, the primary as well as middle level school students will find it difficult to follow the e-learning by handling gadgets like smart phones and laptops,” he added.

Anthony Mendes (name changed), a parent who has two children studying in primary classes – Class I and Class IV – said that parents like him, who have more than one child in primary classes would have to spend a lot of money on the smart phones.

“And if the government winds up this experiment after some months, what would I do with so many smart phones,” he questioned, maintaining that many parents, who have either lost their job or are facing salary cut would definitely find it difficult to go in for such purchases.