Future disaster called Virtual Classes : Have we lost our wisdom?

Are our children sitting on a time bomb? I am afraid they are. Children have no time to keep their cell phones off. Online schooling, private coaching for school lessons, classes for competitive tests, fine arts learning, etc keep them busy with the microwave radiation. Excessive use of cell phones disturbs children's sleep, brain activities, mental health etc, set aside the potential threat of cancer by an exposure to radiation. Children are tied down to their rooms adding to their physical worries. It is hilarious, while schools are concerned about the syllabus completion, parents have closed all their concerns over their children’s use of cell phones throughout the day.  It seems, while we are unprepared to sacrifice an academic year and adjust with national level professional courses’ entrance tests for our children, we are ready to expose our children to excessive cell phone radiation. We have lost our wisdom. Are we redefining the concept of education by binding it around the so-called syllabus instead of making it a holistic talent development? 

 

Last year, after a fall of 12 per cent, India’s smart phone sale closed around 283 million pieces. The second largest in the world is still the most potential market, thanks to the demographic advantage and growing necessities of children! Now it seems, the market has Covid19 advantage too that makes people connect with the rest of the world through their smart  phones. To those segments it was forbidden until recently, the Covid19 transformed it to be a necessity to the very segment.

 

Most Indian States have banned smart phone uses by children in schools. Where States haven't banned, schools upto secondary level have done it to keep the evil out of their premise. However, the decision has gone into a disarray. The government and schools want children to use it, no matter what it may cost. Syllabus untaught is considered a sin and the ritual of conducting competitive activities is unavoidable. These are adding to the compulsion of children to be in acquaintance with what was forbidden to them.  

 

Several studies in recent times have shown, the use of smart phones by children have brought many physical and mental damages to them because of their excessive use and consequent addiction to it. No addiction will easily decamp the victim. Deficiency of eyesight and other physical problems are said to be common for children using cell phones expressively. Various studies say, frequent use of cell phones by children disturb their sleep, adversely affect mental health and curtails brain activities. Besides many health challenges, the uses of apps in phones and exposure to many forbidden things were feared to ruin the children in many ways. Cell phones are also known to emit microwave radiation known as radio frequency-electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR). According to studies, such radiation may lead to developing cancer over a period. What may happen 10 to 20 years down the line is a question waiting for a disturbing answer, because doctors say, cancer develops over 10 to 20 years after exposure to such radiation.      

Set aside the impact that may emerge many years after. Is there any immediate benefit of using cell phones so excessively? The answer is, “No”. The children who use cell phones excessively are also found to be academic under-performers and overall less competent in meeting any intellectual tasks. Many parents carry the wrong notion that their children become smart and intelligent by being experts in handling smart phones. However, studies point out differently.

 

Unfortunately, all the studies, researches, findings, analysis and conclusions have now fumed out. The Covid19 lockdown sanctified the sin of cell phone use by children. This has been made necessary, thanks to the government’s lockdown guideline. While the misuse of cell phones had misguided children, that even led some to suicide, today it has become a necessary evil and the only guide, because we are not ready to sacrifice an academic year. Social scientists and child psychologists are silent now.

 

Schools have gone online and rituals of classroom teaching have been made high tech to call virtual classes, thanks to the pandemic. From nursery to post graduation, classes are conducted online, which was a fashion of only the elite class until recently. Suddenly the cell phone has become no-sin device for children. In fact, it has become more important than books and pencils. Wonderful! Let’s ask ourselves; won't it lead to making them destroy themselves and acquire organ disorders which we feared until a while ago? The situation has come to a pass that the children will be ruined, if they are not given a cell phone. No doubt, schooling has greater importance. But wrong schooling will become counterproductive. We need to prioritise what is more important. Isn’t it going to be unsafe for their health? Aren’t their intellectual developments, shaping of behaviour and culture more important? Or, will the children completely fail in their life, if they miss the syllabus of an academic year or skipping an entrance test? Losing syllabus is not the concern of one child but the children world over. When a child can compensate for his or lost time, the impact of over-exposure to cell phones under a compelling situation cannot be compensated for.

 

Children, being brought up in metros and cities, haven't stepped out of their homes in the last six months. Their immobility and high level of stress create various disturbances, which are inexplicable for the time being. They have been living with cell phones and televisions within their locked doors as they haven't seen anything outside their apartments these days. The cell phones have dangerously tamed them. These days, most children are busy with their school classes, coaching classes and classes for various competitive exams, besides other classes of fine arts, everything online. Lectures and mock tests give the children no time even to breath. Everything is scheduled tightly side-by-side. Children listen to their messy classes while being on bed and or dining table. They are restless and put to run like a machine working in multiple shifts. Worse, the children living under urban atmosphere are under greater stress, hence at greater risk.

 

The online classes for primary level children are senseless rituals with exaggerated importance. This will be only a denial of their natural right to be with toys and at the cost of their nemesis. On the other side, there are parents, who have also been deeply disturbed by their children's addicted engagement with their phones. Nevertheless, they are helpless. Many a time, this creates a rift between matured parents and adamant children. Finally, the parents are forced to budge and sacrifice their principle.  

 

How economically poor people, who have more than a child, can afford a smart phone and internet data cost? Poor people cannot afford, at least in the current atmosphere. Many parents, whose incomes have been disturbed after the lockdown, find the cell phone model of schooling a bit tougher at this juncture. No school has cut tuition fees. Everyone charges as usual. In June, when Kerala schools began virtual classes, a dalit daily-wage earner’s brilliant daughter from a village had committed suicide, because she had no smart phone at home to be online, while all her classmates began to attend the classes. There are thousands of such children in India's thousands of villages with no privilege to have smart phones. There are thousands of villages in remote areas and in the periphery of metros like Mumbai with no data connectivity. Children in these areas stay out of the online classes. There are autistic and physically challenged children, who wouldn't be able to use the online platforms. In fact, the online classes still leave out a large segment of under-privileged children. They may miss classes, but retain their health. At the same time, the metro-living counterpart is vulnerable to too many social, mental and physical disturbances. Addressing their future trepidation is not a small task, but beyond anyone’s guess. They are simply sitting, or say, we have made them sit on a devastating time bomb.

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