Many schools in the country have switched to online classes due to the lockdown, but one in four students is unable to connect because they don’t have a laptop, desktop or tablet, according to a survey.
The sudden lockdown announced by the government did not give many parents time to prepare for online classes and they are still struggling to connect their children to these virtual classes, the survey conducted exclusively for ET by LocalCircles showed.
“Parents reported being on the lookout for a laptop for their child this past weekend,” said Sachin Taparia, CEO of Localcircles. Even well-placed executives at multinational corporations have reported needing laptops for their children to use for online classes, according to Taparia.
The survey by the community social media platform covered about 8,200 households in tier 1, 2 and 3 cities in 161 districts. Some parents reported the inability to buy or rent laptops due to the lockdown. A few parents have passed on their smartphones to the children for the online classes.
“This is less than ideal given the small screen of mobile phones,” said Taparia.
The challenge is good connectivity and engagement, according to Munesh Kumar, a supervisor at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, in the capital. “Economically weaker students will have a disadvantage,” he said.
Mother’s International School and DPS RK Puram in New Delhi have sent notes, assignments and quizzes for some classes. Kangaroo Kids International, which operates the Billabong chain of schools, has given free access to Billabox – a learning management system with quizzes and videos.
Schools are working hard to shift classes online. “Lot of training and demo classes are happening with teachers,” said Uttara Singh, principal of the Shriram Millennium School in Noida. The school provides one-on-one support for younger children and students with special needs.
“We have to consider all of the variables like number and type of devices and number of children for individual households,” said a Shiv Nadar School spokesperson.
At the same time, schools are shying away from going ahead with a full timetable as they don’t want to widen the gap between good students and weak students. Moreover, educators say this is a tough time for students as well and they don’t want to increase stress.
The Podar Education Network’s schools have created a virtual school time-table along with a student support document for online learning. “We have a mix of pre-recorded lessons as well as few real-time lessons planned,” said Navin Kathait, marketing manager of Podar Education Network.
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