NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI/BENGALURU, JUNE 10
The Madras High Court on Wednesday declined to grant an interim stay on online classes conducted by schools for students.
Observing that continuation of online education without sufficient guidelines is a matter of larger public importance, the court issued notice to the Centre and the state government and posted the matter to June 25 for filing counters.
A division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar issued the notice while hearing a petition seeking to restrain educational institutions from conducting online classes without framing proper schemes and guidelines.
Government pleader V Jayaprakash Narayan submitted that the state has not yet permitted the conduct of online classes by schools and colleges.
The institutions were also restrained – through a government order – from demanding fee,he submitted. Senior counsel S Prabhakaran for the petitioner requested the court to pass an interim order restraining educational institutions from conducting such classes.
The court, however,directed the Centre and the state government to file a report on the availability of any guidelines governing such online classes and adjourned the hearing to June 25.
Karnataka bans online classes for students up to Class 5
Karnataka Education Minister Suresh Kumar announced that pre-recorded classes will however be allowed.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced that live virtual classes cannot be held for students of lower kindergarten, upper kindergarten and primary classes (Class 1 to 5) in the state. Pre-recorded classes, however, will continue for those classes. Fees for online teaching for these classes will also be halted with immediate effect.
Some schools in Karnataka have been holding virutal classes for students from Classes 4 to 7 and even for lower grades. These will immediately be halted till class 5. The announcement was made by Karnataka Education Minister Suresh Kumar in a press conference held on Wednesday. However, the government gave its green signal to continue virtual classes for secondary classes.
The minister added that a committee will be formed to discuss how to engage students and the modalities of both online and pre-recorded classes.
It was noted that many complaints around online classes were received from parents from across the state. On June 2, a meeting was held with those working in education, psychiatrists and other experts to discuss the issue.
“The screen time for certain classes and what will be appropriate will be discussed later. For now, we have made this decision for LKG, UKG and primary classes, considering their age and mental well-being,” the minister told the media.
