MyVoice: Views of our readers 9th june 2020

UGC decision to conduct exams not in good taste

The UGC's guidelines to conduct the university final year examinations by the end of September has come as a shock to the students. Belonging to the student fraternity, I completely understand and accept both the need and importance of the evaluation stage in an education system. But, where does its relevance stand at a time when the pandemic is spreading its wings throughout the country. All the more, India is currently in the third place in global Covid-19 cases. The idea of conducting examinations might have been taken very safely by the experts while following all the precautionary guidelines. But the practical implementation of the same requires a lot of physical and social infrastructure, opening of hostels and mess rooms, using common washrooms and many more. Also, there is no guarantee that by September the pandemic will reach the much-awaited flat curve shape. The UGC needs to rethink its pronouncement and find other novel methods of evaluating students instead of offline and online examinations owing to the distress being caused by the pandemic.

Ramala Kinnera, Nacharam, Hyderabad.

AP govt's concern for schoolchildren appreciable

Thanks to the AP State government for the concern they had for the schoolchildren regarding online classes (The Hans India, July 6). The State government 's decision that the management of the private schools should wait till the announcement of the academic schedule for the year 2020-2021 is highly appreciable. Yes, it is true many students are not in a position to buy the necessary electronic equipment immediately. And another point to take note is a student's health as they are the future citizens. If a student is exposed to so many hours to the smartphone, one needs to think of the damage done to the eyes. What would be the effect of radiation on the brain? It is a known fact that mobile phones emit and receive radio and microwave radiation which causes the damage of cells in the human body. Already people, especially teenagers are addicted to mobiles. Excessive use of smart phones does affect the nervous system which results in headaches, sleep disorders, short temper, reduction in attention etc. The unrestricted use of smartphones results in mental health of the adolescents who frequently exhibit anxiety, anger and depression. By now everyone has realised the importance of health. If an academic year is delayed, heaven is not going to fall. Let us also consider and respect scholars like Dr K Kasturirangan and Prof CNR Rao (The Hans India, June 9) who voiced out the limitations of online classes. Let us live a healthy life.

Thummapudi Bharathi, Sri Krishna Nagar, Tirupati

II

The children and youth are subjected to torture in the name of online education. Unfortunately, teaching, the mother of all professions, is handled by people who are not adept in the science of education. Making the student to watch an electronic gadget right from morning till evening is treacherous and barbarous. The schools and colleges are vying with each other in increasing the number of hours of online classes. A child of 7th class was heard telling her mother crying, 'Mummy, my eyes are paining and I am having head ache." Alas! What a curse to the child! Continuous staring at mobile phones and computers affects the eyes and the brain. There is a danger of their losing eyesight and becoming prone to brain stroke. Further, they may become averse to learning. In our ancient 'Gurukul' mode of education, there used to be teaching for an hour or two and the rest of the time the disciples were trained in skills such as agriculture, horticulture, swimming, archery, horse riding etc. Education was a pleasure for them but not a pain. When education becomes a persecution, the parties to it viz., parents and teachers are viewed as persecutors. Just imagine as to what type of attitude the youth would have toward them. The wholesome objective of education is to prepare the student for examination, life and society. It is not how much and how long we teach that matters but how well the student learns and enjoys matters a lot. Years ago, the Yashpal Committee recommended less syllabus and more learning. Let us make education a pleasure but not a pain to the student!

Dr M C Das, Vijayawada