The ICSE council has reminded all affiliated schools about the class-wise screen time to be followed during online sessions, in response to complaints from several states that schools were not following the Centre’s guideline on the matter.

There has been no complaint from Bengal, the council said.

“We thought we would send a general SOP (standard operating procedure) to all schools right across the country as a caution and to guide them in online classes. We have received complaints from a few states where some schools are not keeping to the guidelines. There has been no such complaint from Bengal,” Gerry Arathoon, the chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) told The Telegraph.

The Centre had in July called for limited screen time for students and teachers in the guidelines it had issued for digital learning.

The subject of the CISCE circular “Pragyata guidelines for digital education” recommends not more than 30 minutes of online class for pre-primary (where teachers interact with parents), not more than two sessions of 30-45 minutes each for Classes I to VIII or the duration specified in guidelines issued by the respective states/Union Territories, and not more than four sessions of 30-45 minutes each for Classes IX to XII the duration specified in guidelines issued by the respective states/UTs.

The CISCE has also recommended that if there are multiple sessions in a day, there should be a gap of 10 to 15 minutes between two sessions.

“During this time (the break between two sessions), students should be instructed not to use any electronic gadgets nor view the screen of their laptop/mobile phone for any purpose,” Arathoon said in the circular. The students should “freely” move about or do “some physical exercise” during the break.

The circular says “no student should be compelled to keep the webcam on or smart phone in online mode except during online class hours or for instruction/s at a particular time, having duly been informed beforehand.”

Schools have been requested to provide guidelines or counselling to students to make them aware about cyber safety and security.

“Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the schools have been closed since March 2020 severely disrupting the normal teaching-learning process.

It is heartening to note that despite the problems posed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of our affiliated schools have been conducting online classes with the active contribution and participation of teachers,” the circular says.

“In order to address the issues arising out of online teaching, the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (now called Ministry of Education), Government of India has issued ‘Pragyata Guidelines for Digital Education’.

The said guidelines that have prescribed the class-wise screen time to be followed by schools keeping in view the overall development of students...” the circular says.