Hyderabad: Private schools revert to online classes; parents put in a bind

Hyderabad: Even though the State government has extended Sankranti vacations till January 30, many private schools in the city have started conducting online classes that have left parents in a quandary. Schools which have started online classes refused to share the link of classes to students until their term fees are cleared. Parents and students claimed that few private schools have already begun online classes from Monday and few schools have sent messages asking students to attend online examinations.

Asif Hussain Sohail, member of Telangana Parents Association for Child Rights and Safety said, "Majority of the parents are in favour of online classes because children are recovering their study standard and many behaviour changes have been observed in them during the span of two years. If once again no online classes are conducted then there will be a learning gap. But private schools are taking this as an advantage and forcing parents to cough up fees or else they would cut connections.

Majority of the schools are violating GO46 till date. We have many times requested the schools to give some time, as slowly the living standards are coming to stability." Vijay Kumar, a parent whose child studies in a private school, Jeedimetla said, "Despite of the government order they began the online classes and my daughter's school has also declared online examination and asked the parents to pay the term fee and only then the child will be allowed to attend the exams.

It will be better if the government takes stern action against violation of rules."Meanwhile, a member of Telangana Recognised School Management said many private schools have started online classes to complete the portion as there is no clear instruction from the State government as to when the physical classes will resume. Many budget schools are also planning to resume online classes within two days.