Online classes affecting students’ mental health says CTU
View(s):The use of online technology to disseminate education to school children for more than a year due to the pandemic is affecting the mental status of children, the main education union said recently.
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said in the past few months several school children are seeking psychological treatment due to the stress of online learning.
Quoting doctors, it says that students have found it difficult to stare at a phone screen for at least four hours a day.
Most affected have been grade 1 to 5 students who have been reported to have shown severe emotional and behavioural problems leading to parents and teachers being cautioned to have special care for them.
Moreover it said around 60% of 4.3 million school children in the country have given up on their education as online classes have proved to be extremely expensive for many families who live below the poverty line.
These children will eventually end up victims of social vices eventually taking up menial jobs in the labour market, a CTU official said.
Fifteen months since the pandemic began the Government has failed to bring in an effective programme to salvage the crippling education system, the official said.
This was after the Education Minister G. L. Peiris too admitted that online education does not equate to classroom education.
“The National Institute of Education (NIE) and the Education Ministry are responsible to formulate the curriculum have failed to develop an effective curriculum to transcend this difficult time.
This proves its inefficiency, incompetency and irresponsibility,” the official said.
A special task force to uplift school education appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in March last year has also failed to come up with a beneficial programme to lift the education system from the present crisis.
The official said the Education Ministry has focused only on exams and set dates for the O/L and A/L exams, to be held in December and August respectively. They said the Ministry has therefore blatantly passed on the message that only certain students have been doing well with the online education system can pass their exams.
Repeated requests to replace online classes with a formal education programme by education unions and non-governmental bodies concerned with education have been ignored.
The CTU official also said the Education Ministry has failed to understand that many teachers are not computer literate and teaching incompatible classroom lessons online is challenging.
Teachers are also being assessed on their performance in delivering lessons online to receive promotions and increments. This is placing them under extreme pressure the official said.
They also have to spend a lot of money on monthly internet bills and also invest in purchasing expensive equipment including mobile phones and computers with their meagre salaries, they added.
Teachers in some schools are also forced to stick to a dress code while online lessons are conducted.
The Education Ministry has insisted that female teachers wear sarees and male teachers wear ties with their shirts when conducting online lessons. Students have also been asked to wear their school uniforms.
The CTU official said it is not against the use of modern technology in education but it has called on the Government to create a level playing field for all students so education can be disseminated to all students.-CC