Stating that children should not be exposed to computer screens for long hours at the cost of their health, the Madras High Court on Monday granted a week for the State government to spell out the guidelines to be followed by private schools for the conduct of online classes.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha took note of the fact that the State itself had taken a conscious decision not to conduct online classes for government schoolchildren, and instead conduct classes only through television channels during the COVID-19 lockdown.
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After recording the submissions of Central government Standing Counsel K. Venkataswamy Babu that the Centre had already come up with an advisory on online classes, the judges directed the State government to clarify whether it would be adopting the advisory or framing new guidelines.
The court also wanted to know the State government’s stand on some suggestions made by advocate Ajay Francis Inigo Loyola. The lawyer suggested that subsidies could be given on the purchase of electronic gadgets required to attend online classes and that pre-recorded classes could be used instead of live ones.
He said that live classes were susceptible to disruption due to poor Internet connectivity or power cuts.
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Similarly, he said that a committee of ophthalmologists and child psychologists must be formed to report to the High Court on the possible advantages and disadvantages of conducting online classes.
The lawyer added that online classes could be used to teach extracurricular activities such as housekeeping and home gardening.