The days of virtual schooling

By: Ramit Dwivedi

Virtual schooling or online classes have been introduced since the beginning of COVID-19. All the schools persevered with schooling using various online platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, etc. The schools and the teachers made great efforts to provide education to their pupils in the same way as they used to in the offline mode.

While most of the students were very satisfied with the online sessions, many missed going to school. The other thing they missed was the physical fitness period, during which they used to go to the playground and play various games with their friends. In online mode, the PT teachers either made them do different forms of exercises or discussed the ways to stay fit and healthy at their homes too. As a result, this subject became a little wearisome and uninteresting for them. With various advantages, virtual schooling was equally a great cause of concern for the kids. The major demerits of ‘online teaching’ were eye strain and online cheating.

Sitting in front of devices to attend classes, do assignments, homework and other tasks were putting a huge amount of strain on the students’ eyes. Day by day, their vision was becoming weak. Even the teachers had to remain awake for hours at night and sit in front of computers for a long time to check the answer scripts of the students after the end of examination days, which affected their sights too.

To save their kids’ vision from getting affected, parents bought anti-glare glasses or
blue-light glasses to protect their eyes while attending online sessions. Parents also constantly reminded them to minimise the use of computers, phones and  other gadgets for irrelevant purposes such as playing online video games, chatting with friends for too long, etc.

The other concern was ‘online cheating’ which had become prevalent. This was weakening children’s capabilities of thinking on their own, thereby suppressing their creative as they simply copied answers from the web. They weren’t willing to frame answers or solve sums themselves. Due to this, the kids were unable to understand various concepts which turned into an enormous problem and led to a number of difficulties for them.

To deal with this issue, parents kept a regular check while students attempted their homework or exams. They were strict about the use of the web for such purposes and locked the sites. Parents also reiterated to them to ask their queries and clear them with their teachers only. These measures somehow brought ‘online cheating’ to an end to a large extent.

Despite the obstacles, students should always put in all their efforts, remain focused and never deviate from the right track. They should always be honest with themselves and their aim should be clear to them. They should perform their best to achieve their goals which will definitely lead to a bright future.