BENGALURU: Despite a three-week midterm holiday declared for all state-run schools in Karnataka by the Education department, several institutions continue to hold online classes. Interestingly, the government order is not clear with regard to conducting online classes. However, verbally, the cancellation of class applies to both online and offline classes, Tushar Girinath, in-charge, Principal Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, had told TNIE earlier.
“Many schools have been violating this order. There is no clarification from the department. We had asked the principal secretary to issue an order with regard to online classes but nothing has come so far,” said D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary,
Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka. In addition to this, there is potential for a learning gap for those students who lack smart phones and laptops. “That is why Vidyagama was launched. It becomes discriminatory to start online classes without physical classes for those who do not have access to these facilities. When children are out of school, the gap becomes wider and learning is a continuous process,” said education expert Niranjanaradhya.
However, parents feel that holding online classes is better than the children sitting idle. “No proper classes have been conducted this year. Both my sons have been sitting at home without any proper activity or anything to study,” said Sumaya Khan, a parent.
Tushar Girinath, who has been in-charge until Tuesday morning, told TNIE that he was “not aware of any school running online classes.” The holidays are applicable to state-run private and government schools as per officials from the department. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa ordered a three-week holiday for schools in the state from October 12 to 30. This was followed by official orders by the education department, which also suspended the Vidyagama project.