New Delhi: The HRD ministry on Wednesday started consultation with several educationists of Right to Education Forum (RTE) on reopening of schools which have been closed since March due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Tuesday asked RTE to give valuable suggestions regarding issues related to school education and security of students and teachers amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Following this, today a webinar was organised by RTE and the webinar was chaired by the senior advocate of Delhi High Court Ashok Aggarwal.
Addressing to the meeting, Aggarwal said, "Schools should not be opened this year and all students should be automatically promoted to the next class. It is the opinion of all parents that the safety of children should be done first and education should be thereafter. Operators of private schools are pressurising to open schools but 80% of the parents are not currently agreeing to open the schools."
"All educational institutes have been closed in India since March 16 due to the nationwide lockdown, which was imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic spreading in our country. Due to the extension of the lockdown, schools had to resort to online classes to replace the traditional classrooms to complete the syllabus according to the academic calendar," Aggarwal said.
Discussing over digital education, National Convener of RTE Forum, Ambarish Rai said, "More than 70% of the children will be deprived of education due to digital education because neither they have digital system nor their parents have sufficient resources for this. The government should think about the deprived society."
"So far, 7 lakh migrant labourers have returned to the West Bengal and about 5 lakh more people are expected to return. Along with Corona, the state is also facing the problems created by super cyclone Amphan. As many as 14000 schools have been converted into quarantine centres and as of June 30, all educational institutions are closed. So there is confusion about the future in the minds of children and their parents," said, Praveen Basu, RTE Forum West Bengal unit convenor.
"Digital learning will not only push a large number of students away from the mainstream of education but also spending more time on screen will also adversely affect children's physical mental development and their engagement with normal social activities," Basu said.
"In Odisha, the Chief Minister had to appeal for a ban on the collection of fees by private schools. In this context, the parent association pressurised the government by filing a PIL there, which made it possible. Online education will deprive children of all tribal areas. Here teachers have experimented to teach children online in new creative ways and to be connected with educational activities which are commendable," said, Anil Pradhan, Odisha unit convenor.
All the experts unanimously said that the government should increase the budget in those areas to strengthen public education and health is required.
As per the guidelines released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the decision to reopen the schools and colleges will be taken in July, with the approval of the concerned state governments and all the stakeholders. The educational institutes will reopen with proper social distancing norms and sanitization measures to reduce the risk of infection among students.
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