City schools start giving homework online
Indian Express: In the everyday things-to-do list of Reshma Vadepurakal, surfing the internet is right on top. The urgency is not to check her mail or visit networking sites, but to visit the website of her daughter’s school to check the daily homework uploaded online. With most of the city schools going hi-tech, giving home work online is the latest move by some to make life easier for both students and parents.
At Bishop’s School, online homework is a daily routine for students of all classes. “It helps parents to verify and tally the homework with the work written in the school diary,” says Frank R Freese, principal. Vadepurakal, mother of Anushka Vadepurakal, a UKG student of Bishop’s Co-Ed School, Kalyaninagar, feels that the concept works well, especially when a child is unable to attend school for some reason.
“Instead of calling her classmates to enquire about the homework given, I can just go online and check,” she says. However, she does find getting the homework pages printed cumbersome. “Copying it in the pen drive and giving it for printing is a big headache,” she adds.
At Delhi Public School (DPS), although the regular way of giving homework still continues, practice sheets are uploaded for revision on a regular basis. Also, once the syllabus gets over, special course material is uploaded on the website of the school for the reference. “The facility was really helpful during swine-flu, when the school was shut for more than a week. Even the parents were happy that instead of wasting time at home, children were able to access lessons to be taught at school through the school’s website,” said junior wing coordinator Sumana Mandal, DPS.
But what about children who do not have a computer at home or whose parents are not computer or Internet savvy? “As an alternative for those who do not have computer accessibility or the knowledge to download homework, we note the same in the students’ school diaries, as was done earlier,” says Freese.
According to Mandal, DPS has found a way around this by making printouts available at school for the parents.
Vidya Valley School took to the online trend in August when swine flu hit the city and the school was shut for two weeks.
“All the teachers and parents were worried about the completion of the syllabus. So we uploaded various worksheets on the Internet, which kept the students busy as well as updated,” says principal Nalini Sengupta. However, the school does not upload homework on a daily basis.
“Only when the school declares an unplanned holiday, like the school might be shut for one or two days now due to the heavy rainfall, we put out the home work online,” she says.
How it works?
A unique username and password is given to parents when the child is admitted to the school. The same can be used for accessing various details about the school and the child. Besides homework, information like progress report, attendance, fees payment info or examination are also uploaded on the school website.
More articles by The Desk
- Actor Pankaj Jha will be holding his first solo exhibition 'No Mind’s Creation' in the city - March 17th, 2010
- IPL merchandise hit stores across the city - March 17th, 2010
- Cummins plans to reserve 30% posts for women - March 17th, 2010
- Scorpions are passion for Zoology student Aamod Zambre - March 17th, 2010
- New local job website for Pune - March 17th, 2010
