Govt Issues Rules For Online Classes: Max 45 Mins Screentime Per Session (Full List Of Rules)

With the increasing parent’s concern towards massive screen time, a cap on the duration and the number of sessions in a day for students is recommended by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Department of School Education and Literacy under the guidelines for online classes by schools last month.

What Do They Recommend?

According to this guideline know as “Pragyata”, the duration for the online classes for pre-primary students should not exceed 30 minutes.

It can be considered as a new rule-book, which is a result of discussions between the ministry and respective representatives from the states and Union Territories held on 8 June.

Basically, these guidelines have been reframed by the ministry, following the parent’s concerns.

As parents have raised concerns about schools conducting online classes like regular schools, further increasing the screen time.

The below table represents the  “Pragyata” guidelines from pre-primary to up to class 10 students.

Source – Firstpost

How Does This Affect?

With new rules in place, teachers have been asked to limit the screen time according to the recommendation.

These guidelines also warned of overburdening teachers, as it further says,   “School heads should not expect teachers to be engaged in six to eight hours of online teaching in a day. Rather they may be engaged for about two to three hours of online activities per day for the classes they teach,”.

Apart from that, this also recommends the guidelines for parents and students on healthy online habits which include postures while learning digitally, being secure and safe in cyberspace, and tips to maintain mental wellness.

HRD Ministry Recommendation

Apart from this, the ministry has also suggested to “curate, develop and use digital resources and tools including Open and Free resources”.

According to the HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, “To mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools will not only have to remodel and reimagine the way teaching and learning have happened so far but will also need to introduce a suitable method of delivering quality education through a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school,”.

“The guidelines have been developed from the perspective of learners, with a focus on online, blended, digital education for students who are presently at home due to the lockdown” he added.

Nishank said that these guidelines on digital education provide a roadmap or pointers for carrying forward online education to enhance the quality of education.