The Madras High Court, on Monday, expressed concerns over the cases of suicide among school students in the state due to the inability to obtain the necessary devices and directed the state government to regulate online education. The court also asked the government to ensure that there is a fair play between private schools and government schools when it comes to online education.
According to reports, the court was hearing a batch of petitions which sought the government to establish guidelines before starting online classes. A bench consisting of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha questioned the state government if it had conducted any assessment on the availability of gadgets among the students before announcing online classes and raised questions on how students in tribal and hilly areas will access the classes due to the poor network connectivity in those regions. The court directed the state government to file a comprehensive report on the status of online education in Tamil Nadu and the steps taken by it to ensure that the schools are following the guidelines issued by the state government around online classes.
Referring to the suicides of students due to non-availability of devices, the bench said, “We need fair play between private and government schools. Practical difficulties like four children in a household ought to be considered and a methodology ought to be evolved and the guidelines implemented in letter and spirit.”
The judges also observed that the online mode of classes has widened the inequality among the students due to various reasons. They also questioned if the state government has any mechanism to track if all the students attain the learning goals and graduate through online education.
The state government has sought time to respond to the questions and the plea will again be heard on Thursday.