Several private schools have decided to extend the summer vacation by a few more days

Several private schools have decided to extend the summer vacation by a few more days instead of holding online classes, the efficacy of which has been questioned by both teachers and parents on several occasions in the past.

In many government schools, the problem still is a scarcity of devices. Principals of private schools said many parents are “reluctant” when it comes to online classes.

It is not an extension of holidays for parents. Many find it difficult to make suitable arrangements at home to monitor their child’s classes, a principal said.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee extended the vacation because of the heat spell and schools can reopen on June 15.

Many private schools that were scheduled to reopen on June 12 or 13, said they would extend the vacation by a few more days and reopen on June 15 or a day later.

“It is students in the two ends of the spectrum who miss out because of online classes. The pre-primary and primary classes because for them to attend online classes their parents have to monitor and the senior ones who take advantage of online classes if they do not want to be attentive,” said John Bagul, principal, South City International School. The school is reopening on June 15.

Bagul said online classes disturb parents’ schedule too.

Several other school principals said the efficiency and efficacy of online classes was limited, especially for the higher classes.

Even in April, the schools had to shut down for a week because of the heat. Many schools conducted online classes. They followed summer timings, with reduced hours, when they reopened.

“Last year was a period when a lot of healing was done because there were serious gaps after children returned from online classes,” said Jessica Gomes Surana, principal, Loreto Day School Eliot Road.

The school has yet to take a call on when they will reopen.

The problem with online classes is that it cannot be a “copy and paste” of a routine that is followed in in-person classes. “It requires a lot of preparations and it is not worth the effort for a couple of days for a transaction in class that does not have enough impact,” said Janet Gasper Chowdhury, the president of St Augustine’s Education Society that runs four schools.

They have decided to reopen on June 16.

Principals of several schools said instead of conducting online classes for a few days they would rather work on Saturdays once the school reopens. “We have decided to work on Saturdays. By Monday we will earmark the Saturdays that we would be working,” said Sujoy Biswas, principal, Rammohan Mission High School.

“In a class of 40, the teacher can only see some of them on the screen at a time. If the second teacher sees any student inattentive, she cannot interrupt because that would disturb the flow of teaching.”