BENGALURU: With the pandemic normalising the use of technology in education, the state government has been working on digitising of the education sector to ensure that it is up-to-date and transparent. However, students, teachers and parents have raised concern at the reliance on technology in education.
While students believe that online education and technology feel impersonal compared to physical classes, parents are worried about the health effects of using technology for a long time, both at home and during school hours.
Moreover, teachers have highlighted that technology has reduced the attention span of children, leading them to become more indisciplined. Others have also highlighted that the move to digitisation means that students from poor socio-economic backgrounds are being left behind.
“Social media has become a primary source of entertainment and communication for them. It has proven to negatively impact the wellbeing and academic performance of students. Lack of focus, use of inappropriate language, exposure to a lot of age inappropriate content, cyber-bullying are rampant among the children,” said Sreepriya Unnikrishnan, head of Ekya School, JP Nagar.
Some students feel that online classes and a move towards digital learning is not the same as in-person classes. “It’s easier to get the point across in offline learning. Technology as a whole feels impersonal, especially when used on younger students. It’s also very easy to get distracted, so ensuring that basic concepts are retained is hard,” said one Class 11 student, who wished to remain anonymous.
Apart from the detached feeling of learning online, the education department’s push towards digitisation of processes have also posed a huge problem for students, especially due to the implementation of the Unified University and College Management System (UUCMS).