NCERT's alternative academic calendar to bamboozle parents

However, the teachers and schools implementing online feaching were asked to inform students below 14 years of age to seek permission to share and use smartphone, iPad, tablet, laptop and desktop of their parents, grandparents and elder siblings for accessing learning situations created under the guidance of elders at home

Hyderabad: A team of 16 professors headed by the NCERT, Director, Prof. Hrushikesh Senapaty and coordinated by the Head, Department of Teacher Education of NCERT, Prof Ranjana Arora have developed an alternative academic calendar for students studying Class I to V.

Believe it not, from now on, parents have to allow their 5-year olds admitted in Class I, to connect to WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Skype, YouTube and other social media platforms.

This comes from none other than the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the apex body of education research and training of the country. It might be a shocker to some parents who wanted to discipline their wards by preventing them from spending too much time with mobile phones.

The team of professors comprising different specialisations of elementary education, educational research, education in arts and aesthetics, education in psychology and foundation in education and others has come up with a 103-page document, suggesting an alternative academic calendar to the students who are not able to physically go to schools due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The experts claimed that being "educationists" they don't prefer to recommend homework over a long duration for very young children and thus, wish to suggest alternative methods. For implementing, the NCERT developed general guidelines for implementing the weekly plan (for four weeks) for Learning of students at the primary stage.

Accordingly, the experts suggested various technological tools and social media tools for imparting education in fun-filled, interesting ways. They feel such tools can be used by children to learn even while at home.

The tools for students, parents and teachers identified include WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Skype, YouTube, Edmodo, Instagram, Blogger, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google Hangout on mobiles.

But, the catch is its alternative academic calender using social media tools is possible to implement only when there is a great deal of interaction between parents and teachers. Alternatively, it also suggested that that siblings studying in different classes can also be jointly involved in implementing its activity-based learning.

That apart, "if the activities cater to different cognitive levels, the elder sibling can guide the younger ones," it added.

However, the teachers and schools implementing online schooling were asked to inform students below 14 years of age to seek permission to share and use the smartphone, iPad, tablet, laptop and desktop of their parents, grandparents and elder siblings for accessing learning situations created under the guidance of elders at home.

Besides, it has also prescribed a 3-point strategy for children, a 7-point strategy for teachers and an 8-point strategy for parents on how to deal with and reduce stress and anxiety while implementing its alternative academic calendar.