Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion majorly based on "most" of the schools in Uttar Pradesh.

The lockdown in India and its continuous extension for the prevention of COVID-19 are taking a toll on students as well as employees all over India. There is a hurried move from schools to teach students online. According to them, it is a step to stop any sort of negative effect on the students’ productivity and learning capability.

No arguments! If there won’t be online classes, students will find it difficult to continue their studies after the lockdown. Online classes are the only way to keep them going and not let this virus put a halt to their education. But do the online classes taken by the UP schools really focus on the students’ knowledge? Or is it merely a formality to earn huge profits from the parents?

What are the Practical Problems in Online Learning?

There are many practical problems that are making online classes difficult and not as effective as they should be.

Here are a few major problems students are facing while studying at home:

1. Poor Internet Connection: Be it a student or a teacher, everyone will admit that the internet connection is very slow and impacts the entire teaching-learning process. After all, there is an unprecedented surge in the usage of the internet.

Everyone is using their network connection to the fullest – be it for fun and entertainment or business meetings or other social interactions. This is what is increasing bandwidth issues, which makes online classes incomprehensible.

Sometimes the teacher is inaudible and the other times, the screen is frozen. Whatever the issue is, the smooth conduct of online classes is highly affected and it is getting difficult for students to learn online.

2. Inadequate Communication:

Many other factors including the poor internet connection are resulting in improper understanding between the teachers and the students. Students, without a proper study environment, are unable to put their queries out and similarly, teachers are unable to analyze every student, unlike a classroom.

3. Increased Screen Time:

There has been a significant amount of increase in the screen time of the students.

4. Excessive Assignments:

Students are being given a lot of assignments and homework by their respective subject teachers. With a lesser understanding of the subject, the students are finding it difficult to finish off their assignments within 24 hours.

5. Headaches:

Students are putting a lot of strain on their minds to avoid the glitches in the video call, understand what the teacher is instructing and finishing the work to be submitted before the next video call. This has increased headaches and tension in many students.

6. Lesser Interest in Studies:

Without proper interaction and understanding, students are not taking enough interest in studies.

7. Zoom App:

Most of the schools are taking classes via the Zoom App and it is not at all safe for the mobile’s privacy (as suggested by the leading newspapers, trusted websites and news channels). Zoom app fails to provide end-to-end encryption and has unending security problems.

8. No Textbooks:

Without textbooks, students are finding it really difficult to understand the topics.

What can be done to make Online Classes effective for the teachers as well as the students?

Of course, we cannot ignore remote learning completely because it will eventually distract our children from education in the long run. But we can also not ignore the fact that tech-learning cannot replace a classroom.

Hence, these are a few changes that can be implemented to make online classes better:

1. Recorded Sessions:

Rather than taking online classes amidst the low internet connection of many students or the teachers themselves, the teachers should send recorded sessions to the students on a WhatsApp group.

This way, the students can download the video and understand the teacher clearly but without any blurry video or glitches in the sound.

Suppose the teacher has to explain Chapter 1 of English Literature, she can record a 30 minutes video just like she would teach in the class and send it to the students.

It will make the learning process easier and more interesting for the students. Also, it makes it easier for students to revise what has been taught to them.

2. Assignments as Per the Video:

Once the teacher sends the daily lecture to the students, he/she can send the assignment based on that video lecture in the group. With a better understanding, students can perform better in their assignments.

3. Lesser Homework/Assignments:

Since the students are not getting the environment as the school, they shouldn’t get the assignment like school too. Students are getting a lot of assignments at one time and they are finding it stressful to finish them off within the given deadlines. The learning process should be interesting rather than being pressurizing.

4. Revised Timetables:

Teachers should make a revised timetable in coordination with the students and the subject teachers. This way, a student doesn’t get a lot of load in a single day. Only one subject teacher should give homework in a day.

5. Syllabus should be provided to the students:

The teachers should send the “new” syllabus to the students so that they know what to expect and self-study. Without textbooks, this is the least that can help.

Schools are Merely Focusing on Making Money!

Through one hour of an online class with poor connectivity and inaudible sound, what the schools are only focusing on is their fees.

What's more ridiculous is the fact that they are paying their teachers almost half their salary! After all, the teachers are not contributing their 6-7 hours as they do in school.

This raises an important question - then why are they taking full fees from the students without providing them the same study environment and facilities like school? In a lockdown, only the tuition fee must be taken from the students. However, the tuition fee should be revised too because all the subjects are not being taught and the study time has reduced to 30-60 minutes a day instead of six hours.

Monthly fees of different schools of Uttar Pradesh:

*Rs. 4900 for Class VII

*Rs. 5400 for Class IX

*Rs. 5550 for Class X

*Rs. 6000 for Class XII

In my opinion, the schools should act humanely in these hard times and exempt all the students from paying fees. Parents are not earning! How can they pay the fees?

Can't they teach for free for a month? Are these schools so broke?

Or if they can't, should they not charge only a little amount? Only the tuition fee considering ONLY the basic subjects being taught?

Bottom Line:

While social distancing is extremely important, the lack of human contact is making online learning difficult for students. The school must overlook the problems faced by the students and adapt to the students’ requirements from time to time. Learning shouldn’t stop but we can make the process better!

Most importantly, schools should follow the guidelines shared by the State Governments regarding the fees. They shouldn’t charge high fees as usual and must also stop taking the late fee. If your child’s school is not following the rules and charging high fees, raise your voice against them.