Bengaluru: Yes to virtual classes, but no for online exams - DCM Ashwath Narayan


From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Apr 12: After the Covid pandemic took a toll on the lives of people and livelihood besides severely curtailing and affecting the academic year 2020-21, the ensuing academic year for 2021-22 may not be much different.

Deputy chief minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who is also the state’s higher education minister, has made it clear online classes will be first started from the beginning of the coming academic year. However, it is impossible to conduct online exams, he said.

Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with officials on the Covid situation, he said the state government has received representations and even demands from students and parents for conducting online examinations, which is impossible to accept. Examinations can only be conducted offline, he said.

Dr Narayan said some of the deemed to be universities have been conducting online examinations. However, this cannot be implemented in other universities, he said.

The higher education minister said the ongoing strike by the employees of the State Road Transport Corporations and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has resulted in disruption of the degree, diploma, engineering and post-graduate examination schedules.

The examination process will commence after the strike by the bus drivers and conductors is ends and normal bus operations resume, he said.

The deputy chief minister said the offline classes will be resumed after the Covid pandemic situation, which is presently seen a surge, is brought under control. The students are free to opt for offline or online classes at their convenience. But attendance will be compulsory in either of the modes, he said.

No Lockdown, strict enforcement of guidelines

Reviewing the Covid situation in Bengaluru’s West Zone, Dr Ashwath Narayan made it clear that the state government has no plans to clamp lockdown restrictions at present as was done last year during the first wave.

Chief minister B S Yediyurappa has already clarified that the state government is not enforcing lockdowns to control the surge in Covid cases, Dr Narayan said pointing out that the night curfew in Bengaluru and other nine cities in the state as well as Covid guidelines like compulsory wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, sanitization and restrictions on big public gatherings or protests etc will be strictly enforced.

"We want to save both lives and livelihood. This is the state government’s policy and there is no deviation. But we will not hesitate to take action against those violating the Covid guidelines,’’ he declared.

Dr Narayan said the KC General Hospital in Malleswaram has 50 ICU beds. The number of beds will be doubled to 100. As many as 350 beds have been reserved for non-Covid patients to ensure that they do not suffer or deprived of medical treatment.

The MS Ramaiah Hospital has offered to reserve 500 beds for Covid patients, he said after a personal visit to the Hospital.

Other hospitals in the city have also come forward to reserve beds for Covid patients, he said.

 

  

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Comment on this article

  • True Indian, Mangalore

    Tue, Apr 13 2021

    Online classes are headache. Everything is open except education.Educational field is kept backward due to corona. Please open educational institutions.They will boost the economy and also children will be on track. All the children have lost their educational track.

    DisAgree [4] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Anilkumar, Mangalore

    Tue, Apr 13 2021

    To teach what they have already learnt in their school or college, teachers are trained for one or two years in spite of their basic education. How can they conduct online classes without any training? No school is really conducting online classes for the purpose of teaching the children. They do it just to collect the revenue. With an eye wash teaching of one hour twice a week, they think that they can collect full fees. If they are paying only 50% to teachers, then the school authorities have to be held responsible and not make parents and children to suffer. School has to do justice to the fee collected by them. In my case, the school collects 100% fees including cost of books, exam fee etc. Conducting online class as an eye wash to justify the fee collection is not acceptable. That too with untrained teachers who have no idea on how to handle the online meeting and how to solve problems with network connectivity at their own school. Most of the schools have not installed or acquired any equipment to conduct online meetings. They are experimenting with whatever they have. In my case, the teacher is conducting classes from her laptop at home (with a pet dog barking in the background!!!) This is not a commentary on profession of teaching. Teachers do struggle to teach with whatever they are provided with and with whatever they have been told to do. What I suggest is, let the school authority prepare themselves for conducting online classes and they go ahead. Also, No one has an answer to the question "how much time do you expect parents to get involved in this online business?" Are they supposed to leave their job and sit at home with children?

    DisAgree [2] Agree [4] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ms D'Souza, Mangalore

    Tue, Apr 13 2021

    Mr AnilKumar, Very rude statement from you. As a faculty let me tell you teaching is not an easy task. We teachers are also new to teaching online. Yes we are not tech savy. You become a teacher and then talk. Teaching preparation doesn't stop at 4pm when we go back home. We go home and prepare. Creating content and delivering online is challenging. It's very easy to talk. Don't judge less you be judged yourself. Be grateful that teachers are taking the pain to teach your child. Each teacher takes up more than 2 subjects. Kindergarten and primary school teachers have to put in a lot of effort. From primary to PhD level, all faculty are trying their level best to make the subject interesting and share knowledge. Instead of grumbling be thankful.

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Manoj, Kavoor

    Tue, Apr 13 2021

    Such an irresponsible and deplorable statement made by Mr Anil. With all due respect to u and ur profession i shld say tat d smt of efgort of tchrs during this difficult times has been monumental. I agree tat all tchrs arent aware of technology but all have learnt it now and r ready to explore this time around. As far as quality is concerned, it has been affected not teaching quality but d quality of life of a tchr coz of either no salary or 50%cut. B careful next time wen u make such distasteful comments against a tchr.

    DisAgree [2] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Aj, Mangalore/Dubai

    Mon, Apr 12 2021

    They don't try to find alternatives or new education modes that could be explored. They've hardly placed any importance on education and that shows .

    DisAgree Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • Anilkumar, Mangalore

    Mon, Apr 12 2021

    Online classes is a headache for many parents. Most of the teachers do not know how to do adjustments such as mute/unmute, time questions for interaction from students, audio problem, keeping track of what is taught earlier and what is missed out and many more problems their own preparations. Most important is, the class is conducted during mid day when parents are engaged in their own duties, office work, etc. For example, in my case, I have to sit with my grandchild to make sure that she does not miss out anything that is taught, does her home work and comes prepared for next class. Small children do not know how to operate computer. If parents or grandparents are not educated enough, how can they cope up with so called "online classes"?? Many may be not even bringing this out for fear of being branded as uneducated. The standard of teaching is very poor in general when it comes to online classes.

    DisAgree [15] Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mumbai

    Mon, Apr 12 2021

    I fail to understand this Logic ...

    DisAgree [3] Agree [16] Reply Report Abuse


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