Dear teachers, parents, students & the government 

In a post-pandemic world, we have embraced the idea of online classes - where children are expected to sit still, focus on what is being said, while acquainting themselves with the metaphors of the digital world: muting, unmuting, screen-off, screen-blurs, volume-up and down. 

Here’s a critique of why online classes are one of the worst educational outcomes from the pandemic. 

Burden on the students 

Normalizing the screen-time 
In our worlds, we’re constantly trading disadvantages of screen-time. It is over-stimulating, terrible for the eyes & impairs focus & composure in no small measure. With online classes, we conveniently bypass the screen-time logic. 

The child is expected to focus 
My child is in the nursery at 4.5 years. I constantly get resistance from him for not attending the online classes but that the teachers and the parents (I’m guilty of this too), constantly ask him to shift his focus back to the classes. I’m not sure if children at this age are biologically programmed / engineered to respond to classes this way. 

Set-back to learning

• A lot of us believe that learning for such small children happens in the corridors, in the playgrounds - in the company of other friends, teachers, didis who help them. Touch and feel; sensory learning & spatial learning, all aim to stimulate children’s senses in a way that an online classroom CANNOT support. 
• At the same time, how much gets registered through online classes is highly questionable. My child was not able to remember even a few things from today’s story, which the teachers were trying their best to bring to life. 
• Online learning is highly linear. It is not easy to have side-conversations. It’s almost impossible to have meaningful detours from a particular concept. It’s distracting for the whole class if the child in all her innocence wants to chime in with a story of her own. Online school is programmed to over-discipline the child, which may crush curiosity irrevocably.

Burden on the parent/s

Disguised unemployment
For parents of very small children, we have only heard how online schooling has inconvenienced parents in different ways. When online schooling is resorted to, so consistently, erratically and for longer periods of time, the burden on working parents is immense. In a country like India, the corporate infra is still not fully prepared to support working parents with flexibility. 

Additional hardware requirement 
The school almost takes it for granted that home would be able to provide an additional hardware: a spare laptop, tablet or a phone to support online classes. Is this new hardware a new expectation for parents? If yes, then once again, are we aligning on whether we are ok to introduce and encourage the use of screens, in a dedicated fashion to such young students? 

Fee, in relation to the service provided 
At our privilege also, I’ve only seen parents go beyond their ken, to provide the best education to their students. The awareness of the exorbitant price we pay to see our children conventionally-schooled - is not lost. Basic math would bear out that every single day of school is mighty expensive. Agreed that the price is in exchange of learning, the infra, the long-term benefits that the students reap & agreed that the cost of the school is not reducing - we’re still paying a hefty price for the service we’re being made to forego, service that is not being delivered or being post-poned. In our school in Delhi, some very important, corner-stone functions and festivities were shifted to online, which no one stakeholder in the ball was prepared for. 

School, like work has entered our homes & feels entitled to our home-spaces & expects the home to make the necessary technology adjustments 
My help pointed out today that in the online class, my entire bed was visible, in all its glory :). I pointed out, not my problem. When the school (and I mean the conventional definition of school, because I still home-school my child on a lot of things) enters my home this way, it automatically burdens the parents to maintain a certain visage / a certain facade. This burden, for some might be too much. They may not even have an additional room, a working internet, a quiet sibling or a dedicated space to support online school. 

Burden on the teachers

Not all teachers not equipped to facilitate an online class 
Even though we have fantastic teachers in my child’s school and do a fantastic job of delivery, it’s very easy for teachers to lose control of the class, as a result of which, you only have wandering children who take away nothing. No matter how well teachers prepare, it’s highly likely that activities that they are prepared with, for an offline delivery will land in online. At best, they’re able to moderate but not able to augment learning.

Teachers are not equipped to manage the exclusionary nature of online classes 
One of the striking things about online classes is that they’re so exclusionary. Some parents can make their children sit down and focus, other parents can’t. Some parents can manage work around their children, others can’t. Some children can sit up and listen, others can’t. Some children find it ok to unmute themselves, respond to their name being called out and overcome their shyness, others can’t. In all of this, teachers find it very difficult to predict and manage behaviours, giving children chances that are best suited to their individual needs. Online classes are programmed for mass, objective-type learning - they’re NOT for younger, primary students. 

Clearly, the 3 stakeholders in the ball are all bearing the brunt of online classes, while the government makes sweeping guidances that schools have to adhere to. 

Here are a few things we can appeal for:

• Govt. Guidance is important, especially for government schools - but can private schools who have the necessary infra be allowed to take a call of what is right for them, their students and their parents?
• While adhering to the guidance, can schools negotiate in a manner that they can, and can help students attend school with reduced / altered schedules?
• Can the govt. and the school guide on how to equip ourselves better to fight poor air-quality or bad-weather? For eg. mandate on maintaining air-quality to a level; mandate for bus condition, hours to avoid in the morning etc.
• Can the govt. And the school help us PREDICT school better so that we’re able to maneuvre our lives, our speeds and our works around that?
• Can the school manage its calendars more thoughtfully, given Delhi’s air-quality, monsoon and cold-waves are broadly predictable for months?
• Can the school offer thinking on its full service blue-print. What’s the value-prop, what are they charging parents for and what’s’ the modular aspect of the fee-structure that can be flexed for the lack of value exchanged?
• Can the teachers have altered altered pedagogical methods that support learning in an inclusive way, especially for younger students? 

I’m sure I’m missing out on many innovating solutions and likely some advantages of online schooling as well, but I’m here to be enlightened. Meanwhile, I sincerely hope for schools and governments to pay heed!