Hyderabad: Clamour against online schooling grows shriller

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) along with several other parent organisations has decided to launch a campaign against online classes and schools demanding parents to pay the fees during the Covid-19 period. According to Seema Agarwal of HSPA, parents from all States will join together on the Twitter to strengthen their voices.

Sharing hashtag, parents associations from different parts of the country have decided to raise their voices to reach the Center, State governments. Besides, the Union HRD Ministry, CBSE, Prime Minister's Office, Chief Minister's of different States and NCPCR. It was also decided to submit memorandums to the District Magistrates wherever possible.

The main demands of the parents include waiving of quarterly fee or a 50 per cent waiver, baning online classes for young children, one country, one education, one curriculum and one syllabus. Besides, making the usage of NCERT books mandatory, she said. Joining the parents' tirade against the forced fee collection, Balakumar, a parent said "virtual classes are straining health of children.

The students are asked to collect notebooks at school, which is an indirect method of asking parents to pay fees for issuance of books required for virtual classes." Asking to show solidarity with parents, Ved Prakash of Amity Parents of Vasundhara Sector I, asked "schools must not open till Covid-19 has a solution. Our kids are the nation's future and not lab rats for an experiment." Taking a dig at the alleged unholy alliances between the politicos-school managements, another parent took a dig saying, "What Modiji said to pay to employees is for middle class..not for punjipatis like these school owners...because, the most school belongs to politicians."

Posting the time table shared by a school, Balaji Chivukula said, 7 classes each of 40 minutes for children to sit on the system, "this is inhuman," he added. Meanwhile, to counter the growing voices of the parents opposing online schooling, the private corporate schools have launched an online campaign roping in parents to impress upon their counterparts how good the school in which their children are studying.

Making appeals to admit their wards in a given school during the current academic year. But the School Education Department officials pointed out that it is against the affiliation norms. Because, "No School Board, be it the Central Boards or the State Board has announced any academic calendar for the current academic year. Unless the boards give guidelines the schools cannot commence academic year by taking admissions," the sources said.