Karnataka: Expert committee issues guidelines for holding e-classes

Bengaluru: The expert committee submitted guidelines for conducting online classes for school children during the Covid-19 pandemic for technology enabled education and beyond. The report, submitted to the State Government by committee chairman Prof MK Sridhar, recommends a host of solutions for classes from pre-primary to Class 10.

The committee has recommended that up to Class 2, classes will be purely interactive including play, story-telling, rhymes, etc. Parent/adult supervision with their child is mandatory. Children aged 3 to 6 years will have only 30-minute screen time per session, with a maximum of one session a day for three days a week, while students of Classes 1-2 will have 30 minutes screen time per session with a maximum two sessions a day for three days a week. Class 3 to 5 children will have 30 minutes screen time per session, with a maximum two sessions a day for five days a week, while Class 6 to 8 will have 30 to 45 minutes screen time per session with a maximum of three sessions in a single day for five days a week which is preferred to be interactive. Class 9 and 10 can have 30-45 minutes screen time per session with a maximum of four sessions a day for five days a week, with 75% content on the curriculum and 25% general topics.

The committee said that if a child is unable to access technology, the school should ensure key learning objectives of that session/module is accessible to the child. They also said that for higher primary and high school children, parental presence is not required.