Kolkata: While most city schools called off classes anticipating traffic disruption on Monday, only a few institutions switched to online learning. Though online classes saw a good number of attendees, technical glitches and network problems underscored the challenges of remote learning compared to face-to-face instruction. Several prominent schools will conduct classes on Saturday instead of Monday.Ayushman Chaudhuri, a class VI student of a central Kolkata-based private school, who attended online classes on Monday morning, faced difficulties as the network connectivity was ‘very poor.’ “I faced difficulties logging in during the morning as the network connectivity was poor. I managed to enter the virtual class 15 minutes after the scheduled time, but even after that, the connection was lost several times. It became very tiring to concentrate because I couldn’t follow the class lecture properly,” he added.Sudeshna Banerjee, vice principal of The BSS, said,”There was above 80% attendance in online classes, but we faced network issues. Other than that, everything was fine.” Many schools like Calcutta Girls’ High School, Heritage, St Lawrence High School, and Abhinav Bharati High School remained shut on Monday.”We decided to hold an extra class on Saturday to compensate for Monday as we had observed in the past that students often don’t want to join online classes,” said Abhinav Bharati High School principal Srabani Samanta. One geography teacher from a central Kolkata school highlighted the same sort of issues she faced during online classes. “It’s difficult to keep track of each student, so many of them take advantage by keeping their cameras off and mics muted. Network disruption is also a major issue,” she added.Rammohan Mission School’s principal Sujoy Biswas stated that they did not conduct online classes, considering such an arrangement as ineffective compared to classroom teaching. “For the morning class, the attendance was good. But there were barely any joinees for classes during the day.Online classes won’t be an alternative,” he added. Student counsellor, Shovona Mukherji said, “Online teaching is more effective for a longer time span. For a one-day session, classroom teaching is better. It allows real-time interaction, fewer distractions, stronger engagement, making the learning experience more personal and effective.” Govt-aided schools stayed open but attendance was very low.
