E-classes: Necessary evil

Children in Kashmir have been away from schools for almost two years now. It was unthinkable until recently when political conflict and a major health crisis hit the valley back to back. While the former has had its long-term impact, the latter, a deadly virus, is raging on, killing and infecting more and more people every day. Amid this the continuous closure of educational institutions and the compulsion to keep everyone indoors is proving to be disastrous for children. Since their social interaction has been reduced drastically, the children have become more restless and finicky. On top of it, schools forcing students to attend online ‘classes’ have had its own negative impact. What was started as a measure to temporarily have an alternate to physical classes has now turned into a necessary evil. Yes, online classes are not at all advisable for the long term but in Kashmir hardly anyone is raising this question. The private schools are sticking to this unhealthy routine with utter shame and at the cost of students’ mental and physical wellbeing. To earn and justify their tuition fees in lieu of nothing, these schools are sheepishly allowing this mockery to go on. This mockery involves students as young as four or five forced to look at a few inches of screen for hours together so that the school administration can pass off this mirage of an exercise as their ‘effort’ to keep the process of academics going on.  Due to the lack of social interaction, online school can cause students and faculty to experience social isolation. The e-learning methods currently practiced in education tend to make participating students undergo contemplation, remoteness and a lack of interaction. Lack of human communication experienced in online school can cause increases in stress and anxiety. However, rather than deliberating on this issue and finding an alternative, the schools seem to have taken a liking to these ‘online classes’, which mean lesser expenditure for these money-minting institutions. While schools claim that they need money to keep paying their teachers their dues, it is not a secret anymore the way private school teachers are treated. The salaries of these teachers are, at best, less than 15% of the overall profits the school owners pocket. Yet this small percentage is used as a cushion by schools to demand tuition fees at the cost of students’ eyesight and mental well-being. Both parents and the administration in Jammu and Kashmir needs to take a serious note of this day-light robbery in Kashmir. The schools must be strictly directed to 1. Slash the tuition fees by at least 50% and 2. reduce the number of hours a child is forced to attend online classes. These two steps must be taken ASAP. If the issue is not dealt with in time, we will come across more and more cases of disgruntled, discouraged, and irate children frustrated by this illogical and harmful exercise that we all have allowed to go on in front of our eyes without any remorse or protest.