Many pvt. schools affiliated to State syllabus continue to hold online classes

Managements say they have not received a written order from government

October 13, 2020 12:26 am | Updated 12:26 am IST - Bengaluru

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 07/07/2020 : Student attending online class from their house at R T Nagar in Bengaluru on Tuesday 07 July 2020. Photo : Sudhakara Jain / The Hindu.

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 07/07/2020 : Student attending online class from their house at R T Nagar in Bengaluru on Tuesday 07 July 2020. Photo : Sudhakara Jain / The Hindu.

Despite the State government, on Sunday, announcing holiday for all schools affiliated to the State board till October 30, several private schools on Monday continued to conduct online classes, violating the Government Order.

The school managements stated that they had not received any order in writing from the Department of Primary and Secondary Education to stop online classes, and added they cannot discontinue online classes because they have already lost out on several academic days due to COVID-19. The managements defended their decision saying many of them began online classes in July end, and are finding it difficult to complete the portions.

School management members also point out that many are insisting that they conduct online classes so that their children are engaged and are not idle.

Suma S., parent of a class six student in a State syllabus school in Rajajinagar, said her son continued to have online classes for three hours on Monday. “We have no problem if the classes are continued as the teachers take longer to complete the portions during online classes than physical classes,” she said.

Although the department had announced a revised syllabus where 30% of the portions were cut, it was withdrawn due to controversies and the new revised syllabus is yet to be announced. This, teachers say, has forced them to teach all the chapters.

Shashi Kumar D., general secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said they were waiting for the department to issue an official order. He said they would instruct the school managements to stop synchronous classes, but said that schools wanted to continue pre-recorded classes. “Students and parents can view these classes at any time of the day. These classes will be revision of the lessons taught by the teachers before and not new lessons,” he said.

Sumanth Narayan, founder of Shanthinikethana School, said they continued to hold online classes on Monday as the teachers had planned academic activities for the week, which included oral tests. He said barring about a dozen parents, the rest wanted online classes to be continued on Monday. He said the school had decided to give students a one-week break during Dasara. He also pointed out that many parents would refuse to pay the second term fees if online classes were not conducted during October.

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