Though online classes provide an alternative to students to study in a structured manner and to effectively utilise their time in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are no substitute to classroom teaching, opine teachers, academicians and students.
While technology has come in handy for corporate schools and colleges to keep their students engaged during the lockdown, the mid-range and budget schools and colleges are unable to adopt technology due to financial constraints and lack of technical knowledge among parents.
Many schools have created Whatsapp groups and are giving homework to their students to ensure they do not lose track of their studies. Most parents are also happy to see their children ‘studying’ for at least a few hours every day as the uncertainty over reopening of schools is turning them lethargic. The popping up of undesirable content on the mobile or laptop screens during the course of a web session is a major cause for concern among parents.
Complaints
Many schools are commencing the online classes early in the day and continuing them at a stretch. Poor connectivity due to low data speeds, non-opening of recorded video classes and poor audio quality are some of the complaints by students. It’s a bigger problem for those who do not have laptops or desktops at home as concentrating on the mobile screens for long can cause eye strain.
"Online classes are no substitute to regular classroom teaching. The constant monitoring of teachers at school will make a big difference," says D. Uday Kumar, principal of Keystone School.
"Students are not taking online classes seriously. It’s difficult to keep a constant watch on their browsing activity," says Bongarala Satish, a parent.
"Online classes for students of SSC and higher classes are okay but for lower classes it will be difficult to hold the attention span of the children for long," avers Rosy Dutta, headmistress of Siva Sivani School, Marripalem.
Professional courses
Students pursuing professional courses like engineering, however, find it extremely useful to keep pace with their curriculum. "While we can pose questions online in a box on our laptop screen, we can listen to professors and watch them on our mobile screens. However, we can’t interact with them online," says Abhishek Hari, a third year CSE student of GITAM Deemed to be University.