COVID-19: Make online learning voluntary, student group to MHRD

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Team Careers360 | April 9, 2020 | 10:11 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) has sought roll-back of the online teaching-learning methodology and demanded extension of the academic session to compensate for the time lost during lockdown.

While the nation-wide lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus began on March 24, educational institutions had started suspending classes over a week before that. To make up for lost term time, institutions moved teaching online.

Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, a youth group with many members enrolled in Delhi University’s School of Open Learning, has written to the Ministry of Human Resource Development against shifting teaching to online mode by schools and colleges across the country.

“One of the most important problems with online teaching is that the majority of the students do not have access to internet. Where internet is available there are the problems of bandwidth and speed,” said the KYS statement. In earlier stories, Careers360 reported on the problems being faced due to the poor access vast numbers of students have to the digital world.

Make it voluntary

The group argues that the digital divide will create inequality among the students as only those students with a steady internet connection and technological resources will be able to attend the online classes. Also a lot of families live in cramped spaces and online class may not be feasible for such students. They further point out that it is not feasible to expect teachers to become adept at a new methodology of teaching so quickly.

The group has suggested that online learning should only be a voluntary measure to aid the students during lockdown.

Krantikari Yuva Sangathan has demanded that the academic sessions and academic year be extended to compensate for the academic loss when classroom teaching resumed after the lockdown.

“The extension of academic sessions and semester would not be a loss for any institution, since all of them would be conducting the entrance examinations for the next session at the same time,” said the statement.