Most parents want govt to increase proposed screen time limits for online classes: Survey
- Government has recommended states to limit daily screen time for online school classes to classes 9-12 at 3 hours, classes 1-8 at 1.5 hours, pre-primary at 30 minutes with parents
- 69% parents have opposed the recommended screen time limits for online classes and want higher limits
The new screen time guidelines issued by the human resource development (HRD) ministry have not been thought through, feel majority of the parents according to a survey, and want government to increase the screen time for effective online education in the wake of covid-19 pandemic.
According to community media platform LocalCircles, 69% of the parents, who participated in the survey, opposed the screen time limits for online classes proposed by the government. “Many parents have suggested that the limits should be higher and a separate category should be created for classes 6-8, as the curriculum and requirements of this group is different than those in primary school,” the survey noted.
Earlier in July, the HRD ministry issued guidelines advising a maximum screen time of three hours for class 9-12 students, while for class 1 to class 8, the recommended screen time was 1.5 hours. For pre-primary students it was fixed at 30 minutes.
Of 21,300 respondents that participated in the survey, majority favoured a increasing the screen time. To put it in perspective, 18% of parents whose kids are in class 6-8 want four hours of online schooling, while 31% want it to be 3 hours and another 20% want two and half hours -- much higher than 1.5 hours advised by the government.
India's 1.5 million schools are closed since mid-March due to covid-19 outbreak and schools increasingly adopting online education.
“Practically, parents feel one and half hour is too small a period to do even catch up learning. The learning in schools are behind schedule and there is uncertainty about when the schools will actually open. We hear that judicious use of time will help students while leaning via online mediums,” said Sachin Taparia, managing director of LocalCircles.
The survey also reveals that at least 56% parents want the screen time to go up for class 1 to class 5 students. A similar number of parents of pre-primary students too favoured an extension of online screen time to at least one hour from current recommendation of 30 minutes.
While the HRD ministry guidelines are not mandatory as yet, the survey said “the state governments could enforce them…and these inputs will help rationalising them. The idea behind online classes according to majority of the parents should be to cover the curriculum while ensuring that the screen time is not excessive”.