HRD announces new guidelines for online lectures by schools, recommends shortening of duration, number of sessions

The Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) on Tuesday announced new guidelines for online lectures held by schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry recommended a shortening of duration and number of sessions in a day for students.

The tweak in the guidelines was made after parents complained about "increased screen time" for students during online classes. As schools remain closed due to the pandemic, online classes were being conducted based on regular school timings which irked many parents.

In the guidelines, the HRD recommended that the duration for online classes for pre-primary students should not be more than 30 minutes.

The ministry recommended two online sessions of up to 45 minutes each for classes 9 to 12 and four sessions of 30-45 minutes for classes 9-12.

Universities and schools across the country started closing down since March 16 when the Centre announced classrooms to be shut down in order to contain the spread of the virus. Subsequently, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, and ever since schools and colleges remain closed in the country.

Many states have already scrapped their respective board exams in view of the ongoing crisis.